Sandpointians know that the Panida Theater is special, but just how special might be lost on the untrained eye. Greg Marsters, of Boise-based Custom Plaster, has gotten to know the community’s signature downtown cultural institution well, having worked on the ceiling restoration in 2015 and now leading the effort to rehabilitate the theater’s northern interior wall, conducting “conservation cleaning” and repair work to return the structure to its former glory, which originated in 1927.
The ‘conservation cleaning’ of the Panida Theater’s northern interior wall began in early September and is slated for completion in the first week of October, returning the decor to its 1927 glory. Photo by Zach Hagadone.
According to Marsters, few, if any, theaters in Idaho have kept their original aesthetic as true to form as the Panida.
“This building has a lot of original finish — a lot. It’s not often that they are this intact, at this point at the 100-year mark,” Marsters said.
He’s been working on the north interior wall since Sept. 2 and plans are to have the work concluded by Thursday, Oct. 2, with the goal of returning it to its “first campaign,” in the parlance of the restoration business, or “back to the highest form of decoration,” Marsters said.
However, that means one aspect of the interior decor is missing: That is, the “sick chicken,” which anyone familiar with the Panida knows as the bedraggled fowl painted in stark contrast to its more regal-looking counterpart on the inset nearest to the main stage.
Panida Board President Sean Behm (left) and Greg Marsters, of Custom Plasters (right), survey work on the theater’s northern interior wall. Photo by Zach Hagadone.
“The sick chicken is no more,” said Panida Board President Sean Behm.
“We cured it,” Marsters added.
Stories of why and how the sick chicken came to grace the Panida’s wall have centered on an unknown individual who was apparently hired to undertake a repair, but felt slighted by the payment they were to receive and so intentionally deformed the bird.
Based on Marsters’ structural investigation, it was likely created after 1964 — the plaster used being unavailable in that year, but the gold spray paint used was not on the market until after 1964.
“So I tend to believe the version [of the story] where it’s around 1980,” he said. “No one’s come forward with any evidence that would give it a date.”
“I can tell you from my observations that he was neither a plasterer nor a painter,” Marsters said of the originator of the sick chicken. “And I have quite a bit of experience with both of those things. My understanding was whatever kind of handyman he was, I was told that he believed he was being paid just for the plaster part of the repair and he billed them and they said, ‘You’re not done, you have to paint it,’ and he’s like, ‘I’m not a painter’ …
Photo by Zach Hagadone.
“Whether he then did that out of anger or just absolutely had no ability or maybe he was a raging alcoholic. Hell, I don’t know, but it was a mess, I can tell you that. … I think the lesson is you get what you pay for.”
There was an effort to preserve the sick chicken, though Behm said the underlying plaster wouldn’t hold together.
“Greg was going to try to remove it in one piece; we were going to try to keep it for posterity’s sake as some kind of art piece in the lobby or somewhere else in the theater,” he said, later adding, “We restored it back to the original state that we could. The sick chicken is in the hearts of everybody.”
Those who wish to remember the sick chicken are invited to purchase a specially designed hoodie sweatshirt bearing an image of the bird emblazoned with the phrase: “Panida Theater: Sick shows since 1927.” Meanwhile, a mylar stencil has been made of the design and every other aspect of it has been cataloged and recorded for history.
“We meticulously documented that as if it were a piece of fine art,” Marsters said.
“The board’s going to do something with that,” Behm said, “to still show honor to the historic sick chicken. It was unfortunate. We were trying to keep it as much as possible, but the repair was bad and we were risking delamination and it was going to actually come off the wall.”
The north wall project is funded by a $100,000 grant from Idaho Heritage Trust, but it’s not the only large-scale restoration work planned for the theater. Behm said the south exterior wall is in need of repair due to water intrusion, while other additions include an HVAC upgrade, with a new women’s restroom, lobby renovation, retail space on the southwest side of the building and efforts to better connect the Little Theater with the mainstage space for the years ahead.
“The physical structure needs a lot of love,” Behm said. “I don’t know anybody who lives in this town and doesn’t love the Panida.”
The Century Fund effort, supported by Ting Internet, has been instrumental to preserving the theater, but, “We’re at another crossroads with the building, where it’s time for the community to step back up,” Behm said, describing “a lot of big plans that are going to require big money … To really send this baby into the next 100 years.”
“It’s time,” Behm added. “… I think this building is vital to the downtown core, and if we lose this just structurally or physically lose the building over time to development or whatever, I think it’s going to be a sad day for this town. This theater serves Bonner County, Boundary County, we’re going to start pulling people up from Kootenai County with what we want to do here and we want to make it a hub. And it’s good for the town and it’s good for the theater. …
“If anybody wants to give us a million-dollar donation we’ll happily take it, and I will throw in a free sick chicken hoodie,” he said.
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