By Associated Press - Friday, November 4, 2016

HOLSTEIN, Iowa (AP) - The tiny western Iowa city of Holstein celebrated the reopening of its 89-year-old Historic State Theater after the community raised $200,000 and restored the dilapidated theater.

The theater is scheduled to open Friday night, according to the Sioux City Journal (https://bit.ly/2evyB7y ). The theater, which closed in 2013, has a new $27,000 roof, 150 new theater seats, a new $6,000 screen and a $60,000 digital projector.

The Save the State Theater campaign started in June 2015 and saw widespread support in Holstein. Third-grader Brody Bisenius helped organize at least two of the theater fundraisers, one of which was a community-wide can recycling drive that raised $1,200.

“We took cash donations from the float winners in our KinderFest parade in 2015,” campaign co-chair Brenda Cronin said. “Several families won some money in that parade and they gave it to the theater.”

There was a lot of noise at the grassroots level, and campaign co-chair Kathy Vollmar said she could hardly attend an event in the town without hearing people speak about the shuttering of the State Theatre. After a lot of push, the Holstein Development Authority purchased the theater site.

Donations from 32 states, and Sweden, helped make sure the theater opened in a rapid pace.

“We needed over $200,000 and we got it,” Vollmar said.

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, https://www.siouxcityjournal.com

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