Movie Night

“We just don’t want to see it close.”

Glenn Peterson

President of Viborg Development Corporation

I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. It was the age of the Beatles, mini skirts, and super 8 home movies. Movie night was a big deal in our family. Dad would set up the projector, turn out the lights, and with a click and a whir, our lives would play out on the big screen (or bedsheet): ice skating in the park, Christmas at the cousins, and graduation celebrations. But almost without fail, movie night would be cut short when the film caught fire or the projector jammed.

The folks in Viborg, South Dakota (population 782) know our pain. For 98 years they’ve enjoyed movie night at the Lund Theater on Main Street. With a click and a whir, moviegoers have been treated to the latest action flick or romantic comedy. But all that came to an end last month when the film projector at the Lund stopped working. This might not seem like a big deal. The price to get a replacement projector is $4,000. That’s not bad, but the price for converting to digital, which will be required for all movie theaters by 2013, is $75,000 to $80,000. Ouch. Townsfolk aren’t willing to accept that they’ve watched the last picture show in town. They’ve set up a Friends of the Lund Theater fund and are collecting donations. Organizers figure they’ll raise the $4,000 in no time, but the big ticket price for digital will be tough to come up with.

My sister recently had all our super 8 home movies converted to digital. The quality is a heck of a lot better and we never have to worry about the film burning or the projector breaking. This should be a good thing. Maybe I miss the tension of not knowing when the movie will end, and maybe I take technology for granted, but somehow digital movie night just doesn’t seem like such a big deal.

Read the Article ® Raising money to keep the Lund Theater open