Harmony family keeps only movie theater in Fillmore County alive

Nov. 28—HARMONY, Minn. — "This is where the magic happens," Amber Coaty says with joy in her voice as she enters the projection room above the one-screen movie theater in Harmony.

With a stick of butter in her hands and popcorn kernels rattling in the machine, Amber says "we use the good stuff." The butter melts into the warm treat and creates the aroma of the movie theater experience. But the popcorn isn't popping quite fast enough for the growing crowd in their small lobby. Often their weekend showings have carried a limited number of people with just a skosh of popcorn needed for the night.

"We didn't start the popcorn early enough," the Coatys remark as they flip containers and form a line of sticky note orders. The popcorn orders, delivered by Alora Coaty, 8, replace the numbered electric candles spread throughout the JEM Theatre.

"It's hard to have a frown around here, everyone's looking to have fun," said Dale Coaty, 18, while selling tickets in the ticket booth.

On a busy Friday night — the opening weekend for the third "Trolls" movie — people cozy in for the crazy colorful movie experience. While wrapped in their blankets with messages like "today is a good day" and "life is good" and bringing their own bowls for popcorn, Amber says "that's what we love seeing."

"Before we had the theater, we've lived in Harmony for a long time, but we didn't know anybody and then we got the theater and it's amazing because now we know a ton of people, which is really cool," Amber said. "I like knowing the community."

From phone calls to questions in the grocery store about the weekend's movie, the Coatys share the happy experience of coming to the only movie theater in Fillmore County.

They know the theater as a place for dates, a family-fun environment and free movies at Christmas, Easter and Halloween. "We try to be involved in anything that we can (in the community)," Amber says of her and her husband Dana owning the theater since 2017.

She lives by a few movie principles: "you can't go wrong with a true story" and "what other job can you come and watch movies and eat popcorn?" Dana says the theater is a great place to raise a family and teach the skills of entrepreneurship. Their four children love the free movies and concessions for their work and earning funds to take a vacation.

While their marketing sounds like a dream, "current movies at yesteryear's prices," the crowds haven't come since 2020. Amber describes the drop as "nosedived to nothingness." Their plans for the theater passed in a lightning-fast scroll of the credits. Dana says they experiment to keep the theater open. A jar on the concessions counter aids in their efforts to add a party room in the "wasted space" portion of the 215-seat theater.

From offering birthday parties to video games on the big screen, mobile movie nights and summer cotton candy sales, the Coatys love sharing entertainment options in Harmony.

"We want to tell people the movie experience is amazing and you just don't get that same immersive experience at home as you do here because at home you have so many distractions," Amber said.

At the theater, it's simple: kids' movies do the best. Other movies can bring in two to four people for a showing. While often running the theater as a one-woman show due to the limited number of moviegoers, "we've been trying to slowly build the numbers back up," Amber says. When the rug by the door moves out of place, it's been a good night.

Fillmore County once had as many as seven theaters dotted throughout the towns, from Chatfield to Canton, Mabel, Rushford and Spring Valley. After the JEM opened in 1940, named after three of the four daughters of Milford Rostvold, Dana wonders how the decades of owners showed movies every day at the theater. Their weekend showings later chauffeured people from Preston to enjoy the film for 25 cents.

On Thursdays, the Coatys head to their movie review platform: Facebook. They record videos full of silliness and some begrudging comments from those who don't wish to share on camera. Dale says their family is often the first in Harmony to see movies.

"I loved it!" Alora excitedly proclaimed in her review of the new "Trolls" movie between singing, dancing and sticking her tongue out at the camera. "It was the best troll movie I ever loved."

The reviews offer families another layer of insight on the movie ratings and content—without spoiling the movie.

"Family is number one. We don't get very many R-rated movies in," Amber described of their movie selections. She lists faith-based and true stories as their next picks. "If I would show it to my family, I feel good about showing it to your family. So if I don't feel comfortable showing it to mine, I probably won't bring it to show it to yours."

Their picks are screened, too, depending on the selections available to the small theater. The movies can have limited releases in larger theaters or require weeks of showing the same movie. Streaming services, such as Netflix, initially dropped the number of moviegoers, and "theaters (have since) lost their power," Dana says. People also enjoy the comfort of their home 'theaters' with large TVs and surround sound systems.

The memories of movie premieres and the giddiness of seeing a movie on the big screen are fading, Amber says. Her memories of working at a movie theater in high school and sharing dates with Dana at the theater still mark her joyful smiles for JEM Theatre fans. While Bowen Coaty finds the "Trolls Band Together" movie has too many songs, Dale remembers the first "Trolls" movie when he and Bowen purchased their first tickets on their own in 2016.

"To us that is memories," Amber said of enjoying the nostalgia at the movies. "In the 90s, if you went on a date that's where you went, you went to the theater. If you were going to hang out with your friends, you went to the theater and then the big movies would come out and everybody would be talking about the big movies, and you just don't get that anymore."

In their years of bringing feature productions onto the screen, Amber says "we try to get to know everybody and just be part of their fun family night."

"It's important to keep the movie theater here to give families something to do together, that they can come to and have fun and enjoy, have a fun night out with their family and make some memories with their kids," Amber said. "You make that memory when you come here, you're not going to make those memories sitting at home."