A non-profit association has purchased two local movie theaters in Vermillion.
The group bought the theaters to keep them from closing.
The Vermillion Downtown Cultural Association has bought the Coyote Twins and Vermillion Theaters on Main Street. The theaters have been in Vermillion for over 40 years. However, they’ve also been for sale in recent months. Several citizens didn’t want to see the theaters close and formed the cultural association. The group has partnered with local businesses and the University of South Dakota to help revitalize the cinemas. Association Board President Bill Anderson says the non-profit group wants to create a thriving downtown.
“There’d been a lot of conversation around creating a downtown cultural association anyway. This idea that this is a pretty rich cultural city, we have a really diverse group of people. The university contributes to that; we have an amazing business community here. And we just felt like there was an opportunity to look at Main Street and think about ways to enhance storefronts on Main Street. So there’d been this conversation for several months among lots of people. And then the movie theater opportunity came up and there was a sense of urgency. And it seemed like this was just the perfect opportunity,” says Anderson.
Anderson says they hope to have the previously closed Vermillion Theater open by January. The group also hopes to have upgraded theater designs and technology. He says the focus is now on fundraising for the project.