At the time the community was screaming out for a town hall, according to Mr Zappacosta so to help fund its construction the first Water Wheel festival was held.

After much consideration Griffith Council came to the conclusion that a cultural centre was to be built and a committee was formed to oversee the planning and design of what would end up being $3.5 million project.

The committee travelled the width and breadth of  Australia tracking as far as Adelaide, Renmark and Sydney looking for the perfect concept.

After much deliberation it was the concept behind the French’s Forest theatre most impressing the committee, with the architect behind the design joining the team.

“We were determined to build the best preforming centre in NSW,” Mr Zappacosta said.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing with a $1.8 million budget blow out prompting council to slash the fly tower from the design.

It was a proposal igniting outrage in the community, as an integral part of the building the fly tower would hold all the mechanics for the rigging for lighting and screens.

“If we didn’t have a fly tower, the program we could offer would be different to what we offer now,” theatre manager Raina Savage said.

“The community musical Wicked we are putting on this year, there is no way we could do that as we need the fly tower and fly lines to introduce the amazing sets,” she said.

Griffith City Council brought in the general manager of the Arts Council NSW to consult them on the need of the fly tower.

Without consulting the local arts council the manager advised council the fly tower was not needed.

It was a decision totally blindsiding the arts council of Griffith who remained adamant the tower was going to be built.

Showing the might of people power, a street march was organised calling for community support, eventually shaping Griffith arts for decades to come.

Protesters started their walk from the CO-OP corner along the length of Banna Avenue, ending at the theatre’s building site.

Women wore black robes and wreaths of black flowers were laid at the site.

“After that the council resolved to build the tower, credit to the council of the time,” Mr Zappacosta said.

The opening of the theatre was an event to remember running over three nights with Mr Zappacosta MC-ing all three evenings and going on to chair the theatre board for the next 15 years.

“I’m so glad that council saw sense and supported the community because you can’t go back and change history, the history of the theatre would have been absolutely different,” Ms Savage said.

“I think the facilities here compare really favourably with just about anywhere. It is certainly one of the bigger regional theatres – we have a bigger seating capacity than Wagga.”

“We have fantastic technical equipment and the acoustics in the auditorium are amazing, we also have world class technical staff.”