It's been an interesting two years since Garry Farrar took over ownership of the South West Rocks cinema.
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The change over officially occurred in early October with Farrar screening for one school holiday period before natural disaster struck.
"I did a school holidays then the fires started, there was so much smoke that I remember all the older people didn't come because they couldn't see the cinema," he said.
"Then floods and COVID hit us - it was an interesting time in my business life."
Farrar's interest in the cinema came by chance after trips to South West Rocks with Queenscliff Surf Club.
"I've been coming up since 2017, I ran Queenscliff nippers down in the Northern Beaches, Tim Hayes was my coaching director and comes from South West Rocks," he recalled.
"I came up, walked past the hall and thought that's an amazing little place.
"By coincidence I had a conversation with James Manning from mediaweek that Andrew Mercado was selling the cinema.
"He said it was in South West Rocks and I replied, 'you're kidding I just walked past it'.
"I thought maybe one day I'll retire to South West Rocks and that'll be a nice addition - there was no real thinking to it."
When Farrar took over it was known as The Roxy, however the name changed a year ago after the sad passing of Josh Hennessy.
"He was the heart and soul of the cinema so I thought let's do a tribute and he had a funny attribute which was six toes on one foot so we changed it to the 6th Toe," he said.
"Josh and his family are locals and they put so much into it."
Now, after a closing period due to COVID, 6th Toe re-opened its doors on Friday, November 26 with various movies to be screened over the coming weeks.
"It went really well, we had a good crowd on the Friday," Farrar said.
"Ian Yates is my saving grace at the moment, he looks after the technology and is internet savvy, we have a crew that work casually and share the load."
With 6th Toe kicking off, Farrar said there could be plans to provide further arts experiences throughout SWR.
"Ian and I are very much into music, we want to do a lot more in the music world," he said.
"The wood floor, wood everything, means the hall has the most beautiful acoustics and we want to start a lot more Friday and Saturday music by finding a good movie that can be rotated around music.
"We're also trying to take the 6th Toe outdoors, so people can experience something different.
"You can watch anything outdoors whether it be Ferris Bueller's Day Off or an old Star Wars film, it's more the atmosphere of where you're watching the movie versus what you're showing."
The cinema isn't Farrar's sole involvement with the South West Rocks after answering the call from SWR Marlins president Geoff Ball to assist with marketing and sponsorship.
The subject of sport won't be foreign for Farrar with a background in promotions for the Olympics and rugby league, working with the likes of Rex Mossop, John Quayle and Ken Arthurson.
"Rugby league is my key area and we've got some ideas for sponsorship," he said.
"I love South West Rocks, they're salt of the earth people and I love the Marlins."
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