A power outage on and near East State Street that affected 1,300 customers also forced the cancellation of 11 movie showings at the Athena Grand last night, including four early showings of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Manager George Bryant said he had sold more than 400 tickets for the shows when the power outage occurred at 6:42 p.m.
We were literally getting ready for the big show
and it was like (snap) Bryant said, snapping his fingers.
He offered refunds for each ticket and encouraged moviegoers to return for the 11:30 p.m. and 11:50 p.m. Pirates showings.
It was quite a pandemonium in here because we had all these people sitting around in the dark saying 'maybe it will come back on
maybe it will come back on
Bryant said.
The theater sold out for the second Pirates movie last summer, and expected to do so tonight for the third move in the trilogy. Depending on the number of moviegoers who attended the later showings, Bryant said he expected to lose between a couple hundred and a couple thousand dollars.
Because the theater has the ability to loop films from screen-to-screen, the theater planned to show Pirates at its late times on as many screens as necessary, up to the entire available 11 screens to accommodate those who planned to attend the earlier showings. The 11 theaters have 2,100 seats.
An equipment failure with a jumper left almost 1,300 American Electric Power customers and businesses, including Kroger, 919 E. State St., without electricity for more than two hours last night, said Doug Flowers, AEP Ohio spokesman.
A jumper is a wire that transfers power from one point to another, Flowers said.
Although power was restored at 8:45 p.m. at Bob Evans, 357 E. State St., the restaurant was closed for the two-hour outage and remained on a limited menu of mostly salads afterward, a Bob Evans manager said. The manager had not identified any other problems at the time of the call.
Applebee's manager Kristi Jahren said the restaurant, at 547 E. State St., was not affected by the power outage, and that she thought it had picked up a bit of business because of it.
The Athens Police Department reported four traffic lights were out, but no accidents resulted. Crews were on the scene for repairs shortly after the equipment problem, Flowers said.
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Rick Rouan
