The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone to some extent, however, one Jefferson-based entity has been hit especially hard.

The Sierra Community Theatre was forced to close its doors mid-March when the pandemic began, and then it re-opened at the beginning of June. Sierra Board member Mike Piepel tells Raccoon Valley Radio their margins were thin to begin with, but having first-run movies was a huge draw, which isn’t the case now.

“Hollywood is not releasing any films until after the New Year. We may be lucky to get some first-run movies right at Christmas week. But right now, we’ve had to go back to films from the 80s and 90s.”

Piepel says the theater has been in existence since 1884 and is in the top five movie theaters in the state for continuously showing movies since 1905. He points out a big concern is the sanitation methods against COVID-19. Piepel says they’ve implemented a sanitation explosion, including reducing capacity of 231 seats to no more than 50, installing several hand sanitizer stations, purchasing a sanitizer fogger machine that is used after every showing and requiring all employees and volunteers to wear masks. 

“Everything is spotless now. After every film, after every purchase, everything is wiped down and sanitized. That’s one thing we took very, very seriously, and continue to take that seriously because we want people to come back to the Sierra, that’s our key. We’ve been going for 135 years, and we’re going to keep going for another 135 years.”

Piepel says they will continue with popcorn pickups when the theater is open. You can also purchase gift cards or make tax-deductible donations to the non-profit organization. To hear more from Piepel, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.