05/16/2026
A HUGE THANK YOU!!!
Due to the community support, time, talent and assistance of our great community and neighbors, we were able to re-open with a newer projector and server at the end of January. I am hoping that all who were frustrated with the small picture, sound glitches, planning for a night at the movies when a projector failed have returned to see the progress. I would anticipate that everyone will stay with us as we work to improve our movie experience for the community, our community presence and to be a viable part of downtown Phillips.
There are many people we need to thank in our community who have helped us move forward. I would like to thank everyone who supported us by going to the Broadway Theatre in Medford while we were closed. Dave Fleegel, his family, and staff at Medford graciously donated $2 per ticket to help us raise money for our ânew to usâ projector. We need to thank so many others for their help. Glenn Lackershire for his work on our marquee, getting the outside lights working and continuing to help us repair and maintain it. Dan Kleinhans, Bigfoot Creative Stone, for donating time and talent to repair cracks and uneven concrete in the auditorium that were damaged. Friends and staff that helped us prepare for the re-opening (Bill and Sue Polachek, Ericka and Abby Sietz, Willow Liepart and Hollie Lackershire). I am sure I missed others who helped and my sincere apologies.
The Medford fundraiser was able to help us with over $1,100.00. Those funds were used to cover all but $100.00 of the technicianâs time for installing our projector. We recently purchased a refurbished Desktop computer for the theatre. The old one that is currently running the projector is still operating Windows 98. Yes, it is older than many of the people who come to the shows. We have also received some large donations from individuals in the community placed directly into the account at forward bank. Every donation that we currently receive goes into the theatre donation account at Forward Bank to help offset projects. We are continuing to update and upgrade things besides paying for the projector we still are hoping to complete additional projects including a facelift for our front and hopefully new sound fold in the auditorium. Please consider assisting us in future opportunities, donations of time talent and funds are all helpful to keep our local theatre.
The next step is tech time to set up the desktop computer, so it can communicate with the other systems (projector, sound processor, and server). We are also upgrading the current hard drive system to a digital download over the internet. This is much efficient and cost-effective way to receive movies. There is a company that is donating the equipment required to assist theatres with the initial expense of this upgrade and once that arrives, tech time will be required to hook it all up.
Thank you to everyone for your support of our small-town theatre, we appreciate all of you.
