The Strand Theatre featured the movie The Life of the Party” on Saturday, June 2 to an “adult only” audience. Along with a temporary liquor license to help draw a crowd, the popularity of these type of nights is growing.
“Every four months or so, when there is a movie coming in that we think people will like, we’ll do one,” said Brittany Walker, member of the Prairie Arts Council that runs the theatre. “It’s how we fundraise for things we need to do at the theatre.”
The night is restricted to adults aged 18 years and over due to the liquor license and has become one of the most popular nights at the theatre. “It’s five dollars a beer. There’s also coolers, liquor, all of that kind of stuff,” said Walker. “There were 45 (people) at it, so not too bad.”
The staff for the night is supplied by volunteer Prairie Arts Council members that don’t hesitate to attend the night themselves. “I watched the movie myself, it was actually really funny,” said Walker. “We were all there (the council members), anyone who is free goes.”
With the theatre close to finished with renovations, it’s now just a matter of putting on the final touches. “We are fundraising for curtains right now to go in front of the screen on the stage. We don’t have any now,” said Walker.
The only other nights that come close to the same number of people in the audience would be the “kids” night. “If it’s a kid’s movie, we get a lot more people than on regular movie nights,” Walker said. But the record breaking night for the most people in attendance was an adult licensed movie night last year where the audience reached about 100 people.
