Community

The Clyde is Temporarily Closing as of March 17

Dear Clyde Theatre community,

In an effort to limit the transmission vectors in the community, we’ll be closing The Clyde Theatre starting Tuesday, March 17. This closure will continue for at least three weeks. We had already discussed taking this step when we heard that the SW schools came to the same decision. We and the school district feel strongly that a proactive rather than a reactive approach is called for and will save lives by “flattening the curve” (trying to slow transmission rates to allow health services to keep up, for an example of how it has worked in the past check out this article).

We owe it to the community to put their health above our business interests. A significant portion of our clientele and our staff is in one of the at-risk age groups, and we want to be mindful of that.

While we don’t like to deprive ourselves of income or the community of entertainment, we believe that we need to get out in front of this virus and do everything we can to enable social distancing.

In addition, many studios have delayed the releases of upcoming films, so our selection would have been distinctly limited. We will endeavor to book scheduled and advertised films into The Clyde when we re-open. We hope to be able to re-open April 7, but will continue to monitor the situation and extend our closure if necessary.

We understand that there is a financial side to this pandemic as well, and we will be paying our staff through the end of the month as if there was no shutdown, and then providing them with opportunities to put in some hours in long-term upkeep and maintenance projects.

Thank you for all the support you’ve given us, and we’ll see you when we re-open,

Blake, Lynn, and Brook Willeford.

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8 responses to “The Clyde is Temporarily Closing as of March 17”

  1. Teresa & Robert McElhinny says:

    Be safe, you guys! Hope all of you are doing well.

  2. PaulBen McElwain says:

    Where / how can we send / submit what we would want to pay to keep our community resources alive.

    • Thank you for the kind thoughts — we’ll be back open as soon as this blows over. Hopefully by April 7, but certainly as soon as it’s safe to come back. The Clyde will be here when the virus is past.

  3. Sue and Gary McKinney says:

    We will miss this treasure of a theater during the closure. Thank you for being the great community resource that you are. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

  4. June Nailon says:

    Miss you Clyde Theater.

  5. Bev Wenthin says:

    Hope to see the Clyde open soon. This has been hard on all businesses and we hope the Clyde can weather this storm. We love the Clyde.

  6. Scott says:

    Since Island County is now in phase III do you have any update regarding movies at the Clyde? Thanks

  7. Ross Godwin says:

    Hello. Hope all is going well. Wondering if there is anything we as citizens of Whidbey can do to help support the theater? Like buying gift certificates ?

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