Activate Rural Storytelling Project: Spring Grove Cinema
The Spring Grove Cinema is located on the western end of the downtown Main Street. The Cinema sits adjacent to the Giants of the Earth Heritage Center and directly across from the public library, just one block east of the K-12 Spring Grove School.
Building built date: 2009
2023–2025 Total Project Investment: $165,000
Activation Phase: Transitional when applied, now Operational
Community Engagement Approach: Community-Shaped
Core Team members: Heidi Eger, Gina Morken, Courtney Bergey Swanson, Jacqui VanMinsel, Lucas Hall
The Community
Spring Grove is a community both deeply-rooted in its history and constantly working towards its future. Spring Grove is located on the ancestral land of the Ho-Chunk people in Houston County, the southeasternmost County in Minnesota. Spring Grove is considered a gateway to the Driftless Region, with the Mississippi River just 20 miles to the east and the Iowa border five miles to the south. The community is about an hour’s drive from both La Crosse, WI, and Rochester, MN, the two nearest metropolitan areas. The town is surrounded by hilly agricultural land, and farming remains a major piece of the community’s identity.
The Context
In 2008, after much discussion and research, a group of citizens went to their local telecommunications cooperative, Spring Grove Communications (SGC), with the idea of building a new movie theater downtown. The SGC board decided to move forward as the financial steward of this community project and Spring Grove Cinema was built as a cooperatively-owned, state-of-the-art theater in 2009. The town had not had a movie theater since the 1980s, so building a brand new, one-screen theater was a remarkable feat for a small town and it held a lot of promise as a quality-of-life amenity that would attract new residents and families. The Cinema was built with stadium seating for 200, full digital technology with 3D capabilities, and a small stage for other community presentations. A small lobby and concession area welcome guests from Main Street, and the second floor holds the projector room along with a large room for gatherings and events.
Take a tour of the Spring Grove Cinema as it was during the Activate Rural site visit in 2023:
The Opportunity
The Spring Grove Cinema team applied for the ARLL to test ideas for new types of programs and uses of the movie theater. While the building and its technology were in excellent condition, the movie industry had changed substantially since it was built just 15 years prior; expensive licensing fees, strict limitations from media companies, and declining attendance had made the Cinema financially unviable and the SGC board was considering closing the theater.
Despite these challenges, a group of community leaders–including educators, economic developers, and artists–had a vision for new ways to activate the Cinema. What if the concession stand became a student-run coffee shop during the day, teaching students real employment skills while fulfilling a need in the community? What if local high schoolers, artists, and entrepreneurs teamed up to host video gaming tournaments or a TikTok film festival? What if the vacant room upstairs was used for community art classes and social gatherings? What if instead of just playing new films in the evenings they invited stay-at-home parents and their toddlers for morning cartoons and breakfast?
The Activation
While the Spring Grove Communications cooperative continued normal operations of the theater (new release movies playing over the weekend), the Activate Rural team carried out community engagement activities and used that information to design new events for the Cinema:
A partnership with the local school district was a key tenant of the team’s work, with the assistant superintendent serving on the ARLL team. With the school’s location just a block away from the Cinema, the school decided to host its new high school “design lab” course in the Cinema, encouraging more frequent weekday use of the space. The students worked with their teacher to carry out a comprehensive survey of their peers, leading to the redesign of the Cinema’s top floor to become a student union and after-school gathering space. This partnership also supported the creation of several new initiatives, including a student-led mural project with a local artist and a community help desk initiative where seniors could pop in to receive tech support from students.
The ARLL team harvested ideas from the community, leading to a number of new events outside of the regular movie programming—including a community talk show, a stand-up comedy performance, and live music.
The team also tried new approaches to showing movies, experimenting with cartoons for kids, keeping the theater lights on so folks could craft while they watch a film, and cult classics (like showing “The Thing” on Halloween!)
The Transformation
In the last year of the ARLL, the Spring Grove Communications board made the difficult decision to list the Cinema for sale. One of the Activate Rural team members, Lucas Hall, had grown so passionate about the theater that he decided to submit a bid to purchase the building. Lucas worked with the economic development authority director (who was also a member of the ARLL team) to write a business plan and secure financing, and he ultimately won the bid. Lucas closed on the building in December 2024, and immediately began renovations to refresh the lobby to feel more like a coffee shop space and add a gaming loft in the upstairs community room.
This photo shows the SGC Board of Directors with Lucas Hall on the day he assumed ownership of the space.
Check out footage of the new and improved theater, along with interviews with Lucas, in this video!
The Future
The Spring Grove Cinema continues to show movies, with innovative partnerships, new rental revenue, and unique events supporting its operations. In the future, Lucas aims to add coffee and food service equipment to the concession stand area, filling a critical need in the community and inviting residents to enjoy the Cinema outside of regular showtimes.
The Cinema’s new owner, Lucas Hall, commissioned an artist to create a new logo for his business.
Follow Spring Grove Cinema’s journey by visiting www.sgmovietheater.com and read more about the 2023-2025 Learning Lab by downloading the Activate Rural Atlas.
The Activate Rural Storytelling Project is an initiative by DoPT designed to amplify the voices and stories of rural communities. It documents and shares the experiences, challenges, and successes of the Activate Rural 2023–2025 Cohort, helping these stories reach a broader audience while deepening understanding and support for rural communities.