Bill Gage oversees an entertainment mecca built around a 22-screen Edwards Cinemas complex with 3D projectors and the only IMAX theater in Idaho.
Yet sometimes he must feel trapped in the Middle Ages.
Gage’s business, D.D. Dunlap Companies, purchased the Boise Spectrum in 2008. Because Boiseans apparently still believe the Earth is flat — hey, we’re always a few years behind, right? — many of us dare not venture there.
“We have to convince everybody that if they cross the Interstate south,” Gage jokes, “they won’t fall off the face of the Earth.”
I admit it. Until I made the quick drive to the Spectrum last week to check out its weekly concert series Thursday Thunder, I hadn’t set foot there in years.
Thursday Thunder was laid back and sort of refreshing. It’s like a smaller version of Alive After Five, except most people sat at tables and chairs that had been set up. Drinks were a little cheaper. There was a bounce house for kids.
Also, most of the few hundred people in attendance actually appeared to be watching the band. (Highlights at Thursday Thunder this summer included Marshall Crenshaw and Cash’d Out. The season finale next week is local cover band Pilot Error.)
“It’s part of the effort to help brand the Spectrum,” Gage explains, “and get people to realize that this is still a relevant center in their choices for entertainment and eating and drinking.”
The Spectrum remains a major entertainment destination. Monthly attendance at Edwards, including the IMAX, averages more than 120,000, according to Gage.
“The theater business is still huge,” he says.
But the newness and excitement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Edwards made its cannonball-like splash into Treasure Valley, is a distant memory.
Empty retail spaces dot the Spectrum. Existing attractions — which range from Legends Pub and Grill, Gameworld and GamersCave to CK Hawaiian BBQ, Pollo Rey, Guang Zhou and Moxie Java — depend heavily on weekend crowds motivated by moviegoing.
The challenge for these retailers is to capture more dollars from wallets being opened at Edwards.
Gage, who relocated from California to Boise when D.D. Dunlap took over the Boise Spectrum, says he fell in love with the center.
“I think it’s something that folks who live in this community should cherish,” he says.
Gage repeatedly refers to the Spectrum as “iconic.” Is that hyberbole? Not really. Love it or loathe it, the Spectrum is a unique entertainment spot in Idaho. With a little creativity (and a marginally improved economy), it certainly could be re-energized.
Gage talks about plans being developed for a specialty wine-and- food-concept store. He kicks around ideas for other branding events besides Thursday Thunder: Maybe a clam chowder cook-off in the fall?
When I suggest something more dramatic —hey, man, bringing in a mega-popular retailer like, say, Trader Joe’s would definitely fire up Boiseans about the Spectrum — Gage does not disagree.
“The synergistic element of a multi-use shopping center is to create that co-use, compatible experience for the consumer,” he says.
Under Gage’s watchful eye, it seems inevitable that the Boise Spectrum will diversify its appeal. (By the way, dads, did you know that Gameworld now serves beer and has bowling lanes?)
Still, part of the battle will be getting Boiseans to cross Interstate 84 — ridiculous as that sounds.
Maybe the Spectrum should make a bigger deal out of Columbus Day.
LOCAL TV CHANGES SEPT. 1
Viewers are about to notice swaps at local TV stations.
KTRV Channel 12 won’t be the Fox affiliate anymore. Fox programming will move to KNIN Channel 9.
A new local news team will make its debut: Fox9 News at 9 — a one-hour broadcast seven nights a week — will introduce two new anchors to the Boise market. Meanwhile, KTRV will continue its news.
Journal Broadcast Group, which owns KNIN, also owns ABC affiliate KIVI Channel 6. So you’ll see cooperation between the local newscasts. And a shared new set.
The most high-profile shared resource will be popular weatherman Scott Dorval. My forecast: More hours, buddy. Dorval will deliver his predictions on both channels.
Michael Deeds co-hosts “The Other Studio” at 9 p.m. Sundays on 94.9 FM The River and appears Thursdays on Channel 6 News. Twitter: @IDS_Deeds
