Group revives theater

Published 10:30 am Thursday, February 26, 2015

LAKE MILLS — A lot can change in over 10 years.

Lake Mills Entertainment Inc., a nonprofit that owns several buildings in Lake Mills in efforts to preserve as much of the town’s history as possible, has owned The Mills Theater since 2002. When the group bought the theater, board chairman Scott Helgeson said the building — which had sat closed for some time — needed quite a bit of work.

“It was in rough shape,” he said. “We probably had to tear down about 99 percent of it.”

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Helgeson said the only part of the theater that was left intact was the marquee, because “they don’t build them like that anymore,” he said.

The theater, located at 216 W. Main St. in Lake Mills, originally opened around 1935, according to Helgeson. It only had one screen until July 2013.

The board purchased the building the second screen is currently housed in about a year ago, said Helgeson, after the board had already been leasing the building for office space. While the building still houses a front office and Helgeson’s office, the rest was taken out and replaced with stadium seating and the newer screen.

The theater with the first screen seats about 200, while the theater with the second screen can seat about 90.

Movie showtimes are 7 p.m. on the older screen and 7:30 p.m. on the newer screen Monday through Sunday. Sundays also have showings at 3 p.m. on the older screen and 3:30 p.m. on the newer one. A different movie is shown on each screen.

Helgeson said the theater switches out films every week — except for when they open a film, in which case they have to run the film for two weeks. The theater switches their films out on Fridays.

The movies currently running through today at the theater are “Strange Magic” in the larger theater and “The Boy Next Door” in the smaller theater.

Starting Friday, “Jupiter Ascending” will play on the first screen and “Blackhat” will show on the second one. Tickets are $4 for adults and $3 for children up through high school age.

Helgeson said funding for the theater came from multiple sources, including a good deal from Lake Mills alumni. He said revenue in ticket sales and concessions has grown considerably with the addition of the second theater.

“Of course it did,” he said. “Come see a show at Lake Mills.”

About Colleen Harrison

Colleen Harrison is the photo editor at the Albert Lea Tribune. She does photography and writes general-assignment stories.

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