The Village Waits for the New Moon II

by Tim McCray

Tim@ABPmag.com

“A Town’s old Theaters are the sanctuary of its Dreams” – Roger Ebert

Neligh, Nebraska wasn’t on my destination list until yesterday. Hopefully by the time you are reading this, we’ve turned an imaginary corner on this pandemic. One that puts us on the road back to normalcy. I’m already planning a mythical trip of legendary proportions to lands never visited. Despite the challenges of this past year, I’m sure we’ve all realized that the events that bring us together as families and communities have been greatly cherished and probably taken for granted. Melanie Miller of Sandy Acres Simmental returned to her childhood ranch in 2015. Her father Leonard had been suggesting she come back and help manage the cattle for several years. She had left home 30 years prior and had been a pastor in several cities and towns along the east coast for the past 2 decades. Then she took on a restoration project to resurrect her towns 40’s era theater. Oh and she’s still working part time as a pastor in her local community. On main street in just about any town in America there was, at one point, a movie theater. For some they are still there. For any of us who were around in the Nixon, Ford, Carter years there’s probably a memory of visiting these beautiful, extravagant downtown theaters, that were much more than a building with a screen and some velvet seats. My own memory of this had an elaborate décor that was reminiscent of a medieval village. Afterall, it wasn’t just a movie theater, it was a portal to another dimension that could transport me to High Noon at the OK Corral on a Saturday afternoon, and trips to galaxies far far away in the evenings of my youth. No DeLorean needed.

The Moon Theater in Neligh, originally built as a playhouse at the beginning of the last century and later converted to a movie theater was completely destroyed by fire in the March of 1944. By September of that same year, on the same location, the New Moon Theater was built. Serving for decades as one of the towns afternoon and evening entertainment gathering destination. After years of neglect and decay, it was finally closed in 2014. Starting renovations on a 84 year old building and owning a theater wasn’t part of the plan when Melanie returned home. With the memories of her youth the theater represented much more than entertainment. “It was heartbreaking that the building wasn’t being used, ” Melanie stated to me. She started talking to some others around town, and found that there were a good number of people who felt the same way about somehow keeping this landmark in place. She formed a group, and a non profit was born. They hosted their first fundraising event in November of 2018. Since then, people in and outside of the community have donated money, time and labor towards this restoration project. A few news stations also picked up on the story, as well as a few nationwide efforts to restore a building-one donation at a time. To me it represents not just a movie theater in a small town in Nebraska, but a social gathering spot on Main Street America. Also, a clear picture that united, we will not be torn down. Perhaps, we can all come together for a resurrection of an old theater in Neligh, then move on to focus somewhere else. You can follow their efforts at facebook. com/NewMoonTheater and a donation page at newmooncommunitytheater.org There’s even an option through Amazon to donate as part of their smile network of charities.