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RR Chamber kicks off Pennies for Popcorn fund raising drive

Ken Johnston
Editor

As construction on the new movie theatre in Baudette continues to inch towards its September opening date, the Rainy River and District Chamber of Commerce has kicked off a fundraising campaign to help buy a pop corn popper for it.
Several chamber members have agreed to place collection jars in their businesses to collect “Pennies for Popcorn.” Last week the drive kicked off at the CIBC when the chamber donated some 50,000 pennies to the fund ($500). Chamber President Kristine Brown noted that the chamber was trying to find a way that it could help the Baudette Community Foundation raise money for the new theatre and that Pennies for Popcorn seemed to fit.
Dave Imes of the Theatre Fundraising committee said that to date they have exceeded their expectations on fundraising. Initially they called for $100,000 from the community. To date they are near the $155,000 mark and Imes projects they will reach about $180,000 by September. The more they raise the less the foundation will have to borrow against the construction costs. Once all the debt is paid off the profits from the theatre will go back to the communities of the area as donations from the foundation. The new theatre will have 150 seats and feature two shows per night, seven days a week.
The cost of the new popcorn popper is more than $4,000 U.S. and Imes is hopeful that a good portion of that will be raised by Pennies for Popcorn. It is hoped that the new theatre will open on September 1st.