For 25 years Pella Cinemas has been a destination for family, community, visitors, schools and businesses, keeping people of all ages entertained and informed. Looking forward, plans are underway to renovate and upgrade this local hub for entertainment.
Pella Cinemas is currently owned by the Community Betterment Organization, a non-profit entity run by local business leaders, and managed by Central College. Leaders recognized the need for efforts to modernize the theater, now in progress.
With funding support, renovations and upgrades will include:
Replacing back stadium rows of seating in all three auditoriums with modern reclining, leather seats to enhance comfort, accessibility, and appeal for children, families, and faith-based audiences.
- Installing new carpet to create a clean, safe, and welcoming environment.
- Upgrading stair lighting for improved safety and accessibility, especially for children and older adults.
- Replacing the concession stand with a more functional and expanded space to better serve customers.
- Providing new online reservations allowing customers to reserve specific seats prior to arriving at the theater.
- Strengthening local entertainment customer retention by offering an updated, competitive cinema experience that keeps residents in Pella for entertainment.
- Creating long-term financial sustainability for Pella Cinemas, a non-profit, by being able to compete with neighboring movie theaters while increasing revenue.
Thanks to leadership gifts from the Vermeer Charitable Foundation, Rolscreen Foundation, and the Pella Community Foundation, the CBO has $225,000 committed toward this $400,000 project.
“We all want Pella to be a place where people desire to live, play and work,” said Jade Dix, who is spearheading fundraising efforts on behalf of the CBO. “The community support in Pella is unmatched, and we are hopeful many partners — both corporate and individuals — will step forward to make this a reality.”
Dix indicated if fundraising efforts are successful, the theater renovations could take place after the holidays and be ready for the public to enjoy by mid-February. It’s a tight timeline but gifts by Dec. 31, 2025, are tax deductible and impactful. It’s also symbolic of city-wide efforts to imagine more, a hallmark of Pella, to pull the community together to invest and help ensure the long-term viability of Pella Cinemas for generations to come.
To Help:
Donations for Pella Cinemas are accepted online at https://givebutter.com/PellaCinemas.
“It’s a great time for these renovations as we compete with Trio in Oskaloosa, Copper Creek in Pleasant Hill, and the multiplexes in Altoona and at Jordan Creek Mall,” said Iwan Williams, executive director of retail management at Central. “Without these upgrades, the community risks losing more than a movie theater; it risks losing a place for families, students, and residents to gather. We have lots of fun things planned for our theater after the renovations and we can’t wait for you to be a part of that future.”
About the theater:
With deep thanks to Bruce Boertje, a brief history on theater life in the community shows just how far the generosity of Pella has taken this important and critical amenity.
The History of Central College and Pella’s Movie Theaters
By Bruce Boertje ‘79
Central College has had direct involvement in Pella’s movie theaters for close to 50 years. Going back even further to 1956, an article in Central Ray, the student newspaper, urged students to support the recently closed Holland Theatre, which was then located on the east side of the square where Thistles Florist is today. Sufficient student support led the Central Student Cabinet to “interest the Pella Chamber of Commerce in the project,” and the theater reopened for nearly a decade.
In 1965, the Pella Theatre Corporation was formed with over $35,000 of stock pledged to a charter of “25 local men.” The original board of directors included Cliff White, Eugene Stientjes, Gary Vermeer, Preston Steenhoek, Dirk Van Zante and Martin Heerema. They arranged to purchase the former Pella Historical Museum at 810 Washington Street (currently home to Tim Tripp’s Law Office).
The Holland Theatre opened in its new location in March 1966. In 1968, Art Alt was hired as the director of the college’s Student Union. In the 1970s, the college purchased stock in the Pella Theatre Corporation and eventually Alt began managing the theater in an independent capacity from the college. In 1977, Central students could use their student activities pass for free entrance to Holland Theatre movies on any Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.
A 1980 Central Ray article noted that, “The Holland Theatre is a separate corporation from the college, although CUI does own some stock in it. Alt stressed the fact that he works as manager of the Holland for the Pella Theatre Corporation, not Central College, and receives an extra paycheck for this part-time job.”
By 1982, Pella Theatre Corporation officers included Central treasurer Bob Froehlich as its president, and Central dean, Bill Hinga as vice president.
When Alt left the college in 1995, management of the theater was taken over by Fridley Theaters, Inc. of Des Moines, and Central alumnus Scott Van Den Berg took over as manager. An article stated, “Central College [which has] operated the theater for many years, is a major stockholder in Holland Theatre.” At that time, Central vice president and treasurer Alan Van Bodegraven was also president of the Pella Theatre Board.
The Holland Theatre closed for good in 1999. In early 2000, the Community Betterment Organization (CBO) was founded, and Central undertook an “intensive, long-range community study, funded by grants from the Vermeer Charitable Foundation and the Pella Rolscreen Foundation.” A primary need mentioned was a multi-screen theater.
While Pella Cinemas would later be sustained through donations and community grants, the CBO itself was originally funded through a major grant from the Pella Rolscreen Foundation. It “was formed to support Central College, the City of Pella, and Pella Regional Health Center, to engage in activities that such organizations would strive to engage in themselves were it not for CBO, including without limitation, providing amenities that make a small town a more desirable place to live and conduct business.”
From the beginning, the CBO assumed ownership and oversight of the Pella Cinemas, a three-screen complex that opened in late December 2000 as one of the first businesses in Pella’s new Molengracht.
Central president David Roe served as president of the CBO. Other original members included Allyn Martinson, vice president; Jim Twombly, secretary-treasurer; Charlie Farver and Bob Vermeer. Dr. Roe commented, “We appreciate the support of Pella Rolscreen Foundation in making this first project of the CBO possible. As profits are realized by this project, they can be reinvested by the CBO into other endeavors to make Pella an even better place to live.”
In 2012, Pella Cinemas replaced its film projectors, which were rapidly becoming obsolete, with new digital projectors. These were funded with grants from the “Vermeer Charitable Foundation, Central College, Kuyper Foundation, Pella Community Foundation, Marion County Community Foundation, and the Pella Rolscreen Foundation.” By this time, Mark Putnam was president of both Central College and the CBO. He commented, “This theater is a community treasure. It’s an amenity that’s important to our students and staff and the community at large.”
Today, Pella Cinemas continues to operate under the CBO with Adam Farver as its principal officer with Central College managing the daily operations of the movie theater since 2016.
