Rockford Resurrection

When the 100-year-old Rockford Theatre collapsed last winter, many wondered what would become of one of downtown New Rockford's most iconic and historic structures.

To the relief of the entire community, theatre manager Glenda Collier confirmed soon after its collapse the intention to rebuild the theatre.

And now, nearly a year later, the Rockford Theatre's future is becoming more clear than ever.

On Tuesday, Oct. 31, the Rockford Theatre Rebuild Committee came together to iron out details for rebuilding the iconic structure.

Glenda Collier, Todd Allmaras, Dave Jenrich and Jeff Pfau, as well as Stu Richter and Amanda Hegland representing the New Rockford Area Betterment Corporation (NRABC), met with Sydney Carr of Cash and Carry Lumber to come up with the preliminary plans, which have been shared with the Transcript.

The plans show a new and improved theatre that still retains its history and honors its past.

Notably, the historic Rockford sign and original marquee, which were saved after the collapse, will be reinstalled and once again be a fixture of downtown New Rockford. A brick veneer will also give the new theatre the same classic look of its original facade.

Upon walking into the new theatre, guests will see new public family restrooms specifically designed to support both movie goers and attendees of community events downtown.

They'll be available to those attending Lifesavers in the Park or summer street markets, and be reserved for patrons only during movie showings.

Of course, there will be a brand new concession stand as well, and the theatre itself will seat 106 moviegoers, including four spots dedicated for those with wheelchairs. The new projector room, meanwhile, will have the latest in technology for cinema screening.

Once complete, it should all come together to give New Rockford the great theatre it's been missing since December of last year.

Collier said the plan is to begin laying the theatre's foundation and putting up some of the initial structure next year.

Unfortunately, what remains of the old facade will have to be torn down first, despite initial hopes that some of the original brickwork might be salvageable. However, Collier did mention plans to sell the theatre's original bricks to those interested in keeping an interesting piece of memorabilia from New Rockford's past.

It would be one way the community could help raise money to make the new theatre possible.

"It'll be exciting to have our theatre back," said Collier. "It's taken a year now to get this far, and I think people were getting a little worried that it wasn't going to come back. So it'll just be exciting to start the process this spring, and people will be a lot more relieved that they can see it coming back."

Amanda Hegland, director of the NRABC which owns the theatre, said the fundraising goal is $500,000, and that a fundraising committee will be meeting soon to discuss future fundraising efforts.

Hegland also stressed that the plans at this stage are still preliminary and could change in the future, but she too said she's excited to see real progress towards bringing back the Rockford Theatre.

The plans still need to be finalized and we still need price estimates for everything," she said, "but at least we have a plan of action on how we're moving forward.

"Everyone's excited," she added. "We absolutely want the theatre back up and running."