Since 1929, the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St., has been a colorful fixture in DeKalb. Since the nonprofit organization Preservation of the Egyptian Theatre (PET) took over the building in 1978, more than $2.3 million has been put into renovation projects to return the theater to its original state. Even so, many people know little about this historic DeKalb landmark.

“The biggest thing people don’t know about is how much actually goes on here,” said operations director Alex Nerad. “We aren’t open during the summer because we don’t have air conditioning, but during our 42-week season, we have over 75 events. More than 35 professional groups use our facility every year, as do student organizations and university departments. We also play movies — all independent, art, foreign and classic films. No new releases.”

Every year the Egyptian Theatre sees events range from rap shows to comedians, bodybuilding competitions, circuses and more. Until its disappearance more than a year ago, the Theatre was the home for the NIU Fine Arts series. And last week, the it showed the film cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for the first time in five years.

“There was a real mess afterwards,” Nerad said, “but people seemed to enjoy themselves so it was worth it.”

The Egyptian Theatre is also the largest auditorium in DeKalb County. Its 1,430 capacity is certainly smaller than NIU’s Convocation Center, but many organizations find the Convo is too big, yet none of the other performance spaces in the area are big enough. That is part of the reason the Egyptian Theatre is such a popular venue. However, for the past 10 years, the space has been exclusively rented out — but PET has plans to start producing their own events again soon.

The first such event is coming this February when Celtic rock group Gaelic Storm will perform.

When the Egyptian Theatre was built in 1929 as a vaudeville/movie house, it was one of more than 50 built across the country. Currently, DeKalb is home to one of the six of the remaining buildings. The Egyptian motif was chosen to cash in on the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1923, and contrary to popular belief there is no hidden meaning in any of the colors or symbolism inside.

“Every year, we get a few people walking around, trying to decipher some hidden message,” Nerad said. “But all the decorations, all the colors, were chosen for their beauty — that’s all.”

Hidden meanings or not, that isn’t to say the building is without some mystery — two ghosts have been known to walk around. One is that of Irv Kummerfeldt who, along with his wife Barb, founded PET and saved the building from demolition. He died of a heart attack at the top of Isle 1, and has been seen in that area ever since.

“The other one, we don’t really know much about,” Nerad said. “So we’ve affectionately named him ‘Bob.’ We see him all over the place, sometimes doors are opened or things are moved or sometimes people will feel a tap on their shoulder and no one will be there. Once in awhile we hear footsteps on the stage. My guess would be that he was an actor or a construction worker at some point. One of the board members in charge of the archives has been looking through and keeping an eye out for any information on who he might be.”

Lastly, in keeping with the spirit of ghosts and Halloween, the Egyptian Theater will host its annual haunted house from Oct. 22-31 from 7 to 11 p.m. The haunted house costs $8 per person. But Nerad says it’s worth it.

“Last year, we had a girl run out the front doors, screaming, and she had peed her pants,” he said. “This year, we’re hoping to increase the amount of wet pants.”

Evan Thorne is a music critic for the Northern Star.