Online Fundraiser Aims to Restore Rialto Marquee

Now that a Joliet businessman has asked for his $350,000 donation back, another Jolietan has stepped up with the goal of raising enough money to restore the Rialto Square Theatre’s marquee.

Real estate agent Sara Wittchen has launched a marquee fund on crowd-funding site GoFundMe.com. As of Wednesday night, residents had chipped in a total of more than $4,500.

“The Rialto Square Theater built in 1926 by The Ruben Brothers is in desperate need of repair and preservation, most pressing the marquee itself, the face of the theater. It has been said it is currently being held together with ‘duct tape and bailing wire,’” Wittchen wrote on the page.

Last week, Ed Czerkies asked for his donation back after the Rialto’s governing board held off on finalizing a donor agreement amid talks of redesigning a new marquee for the 88-year-old theater.

That decision has left the theater with a nearly $500,000 deficit, Wittchen wrote — and no repairs or replacement for the marquee. Last month, Rialto General Manager Randy Green told the Joliet City Council that the theater has been looking to repair or replace the deteriorating marquee since 2005.

Related:

• Rialto Marquee Donor Asks for His Money Back
• Rialto Manager Accuses Marquee Opponents of Trying to Dupe Sign Company
• Rialto Officials: New Marquee Has Been Nearly a Decade in the Making
• Plans for New Rialto Marquee Draw Criticism

Plans for a modernized, digital marquee that plays video drew criticism from residents, who called the design “gaudy” and “ugly,” among other things.

Over the summer, Czerkies agreed to donate $350,000 to fund a new marquee, along with new LED lights for the Rialto’s famous vertical sign.

According to WJOL, the Rialto has already spent $198,000 on a new marquee, which was already under construction when the Will County Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority made the decision to revisit the donor agreement after a redesign had been completed.

Czerkies, who previously said he would pull the funding if the design was significantly changed, last week confirmed that he had asked for the money back.

Also on Patch:

• Bolingbrook Teen Pleads Not Guilty; Mom Accuses ISIS of ‘Brainwashing Children’
• Man Who Killed Romeoville Teen Seeks Lighter Sentence
• Oswego Man Among Eight Charged in Underage Sex Trafficking Sting
• Plainfield Woman to Appear on ‘Wheel of Fortune’

Wittchen has set a goal of $100,000 for the GoFundMe campaign, imploring residents to help preserve the historic theater.

“This fundraiser was created to help save not only the famous marquee, where many artists, and couples have had their names elegantly displayed in lights, but to help serve our community and preserve the ‘Jewel of Joliet,’” she wrote.

Click here to donate or read more about the campaign: