Recently my family and I attended the movie Race to Witch Mountain at the Farris.Just before the movie started Judi Renfro commented how comfortable the seats are at the Farris.I thanked her for the compliment and explained that we had located the used seats in an Orrick, MO warehouse during the restoration in the late 1990's. I told her the story of F.G. Weary's unending knowledge of how the seats fit together like a jig-saw puzzle, each with a different leg height and some with different widths.I also told Judi that Mike Harrison of Harrison's Body Shop sand-blasted all of the seat parts and refinished them with automotive quality paint.And Stitch-n-Tack, which was in business at the time in Richmond, re-upholstered each of the seats by hand, using material that we had purchased direct from a textile mill on the east coast.When she asked how we installed them I told her that Ray and John Gill along with some of their employees worked under F.G.'s supervision to fit each row perfectly to our auditorium floor that is shaped much like a saucer - high on the sides and in the back, but constantly tapering toward the center and the stage.
By the time my story ended Judi had gotten her husband Bruce's attention along with the three grandchildren they had brought to the show and all were listening attentively to the story.She thanked me again and commented that even the seats tell a story.I said "Yes, there is story behind everything at the Farris." What's your Farris story? Click the link above to post your story today.
See you at the show,
Rob Swafford President, Friends of the Farris, Inc.
