Crookston’s Grand Theatre, like many businesses throughout the area, was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic by Executive Order of Governor Tim Walz in March. While Walz’s order allowed theaters to begin reopening last week, the Grand Theatre took extra time to order movies and finish some work inside.
Bo Brorby said the staff have been doing a lot of painting, cleaning, and sanitizing the theatre during the closure. Additionally, local artist Trey Everett is creating a new movie-themed mural inside the lobby. “Since we’ve been closed down for the last few months everybody knows we’ve been selling snacks on the weekend,” said Brorby. “Inside, we’ve been doing a lot of remodeling. We basically painted all of side one. We painted all the walls, railings and everything going down and then all the stadium seating walls. We took all the railings off – sanded and stained them. We’ve got all the carpets and seats shampooed and have been sanitizing them. We got some new light coverings on the sides of the stage. We painted inside side two and the outside of side two painted also. And then we’ve got a special project going on in the lobby with a mural going up on the wall.”
The Grand will reopen Friday afternoon with showtimes at 1:30 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 4:15 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 7:15 p.m. “We’re going to be bringing in older movies for the first month or so we’re open,” said Brorby. “We’re picking a bunch of great older movies that everyone seems to enjoy, fun movies to see in the theatre. We’re starting with showing the Secret Life of Pets and Shrek during the day. And then, at night for the 7 p.m. shows we’re showing the original Fast & Furious, and Smokey and the Bandit. Each week we’re going to be bringing in a variety of movies. We’re going to be charging $3 (for tickets) until we start bringing in new movies. That’s hopefully looking like the middle of July new movies will start coming out.”
Theatre capacity is currently limited to 25 percent, which Brorby said is about 60 moviegoers for side one and 20 for side two. “Coming in we’re going to make sure our lobby doesn’t get too many people in it, so we’ll keep the crowd low in the lobby,” said Brorby. “Theatres have to run at 25 percent capacity starting off here, so we’ll be closing off every other row so no one will be in front or behind you. Then, you’ll sit with your group and have 2-3 seats in-between (groups). Side one we can only have about 60 people, side two we can only have about 20 people in. We’re hoping we’ll be in high demand and be pretty busy. Everybody seems pretty excited.”
Brorby added that the blocked off rows would be rotated between shows as an extra precaution. “After the show, we’ll clean off seats and rotate the rows,” said Brorby. “So, when people sat in those rows, we’ll block those off for the next show. We installed hand sanitizer right where you walk in, we’ve got a bottle by the counter, and another one in the lobby. So, we have hand sanitizer all over the place, so we’ll be keeping up with all the guidelines the government’s issued.”
The Grand Theatre is planning to offer a mix of kids movies and cartoons during the day with action movies, dramas or comedies at night until new movies start to become available. The Grand Theatre will also provide private showings for people. To inquire about a private showing reach out to The Grand Theatre on Facebook or call 281-1820.
