HOULTON, Maine — After being forced to close down for extended periods of time due to the coronavirus pandemic, movie theaters in Aroostook are getting some much needed assistance.
Two movie theater companies, Temple Cinema in Houlton and the Dow Theatre Company (which runs the Braden Theatre in Presque Isle and the Caribou Theaters in Caribou), have both received Shuttered Venue Operators Grants from the federal Small Business Administration. They join 80 other entertainment venues in Maine that have received the grant, for a grand total of $36 million.
Dow Theater Company received a total of around $349,000 from the grant, 21st highest of all Maine venues, while the Temple Cinema received $127,000, the 37th highest. Dow Theater Company declined to be interviewed for this story.
Charlie Fortier, the owner of Temple Cinema, said the grant money would be used to help pay employee wages and make repairs to the theater. As part of receiving the grant, all of the money must be spent before the end of the year.
“It’s a very, very old theater, so there are a lot of things that need to be replaced,” Fortier said. “Because of the ongoing effects of COVID-19, not as many people are going to the theaters as they were in the past. And hopefully it’ll be back to normal before the money runs out.”
In order to apply for the Shuttered Venue grant, Fortier had to fill out a complex series of paperwork as well as go through a website susceptible to crashing due to the massive influx of applicants. But Fortier, who has a background in corporate finance, says he was able to navigate the system.
“We were very, very lucky in that we were I think the first theater in Maine to get [the grant],” he said. “It was a long and arduous process, because they were deathly afraid that someone was going to get the grant and have it be fraud.”
Temple Cinema closed down during the start of the pandemic and remained closed for six months before briefly reopening in September. But a lack of films being distributed for theaters caused it to close down again. It reopened in June and has remained open since.
While the theater is now showing blockbuster hits like Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” and Marvel’s “Black Widow,” Fortier says the theater is only back to about half of what it was before the pandemic started.
He has also continued to require mask wearing and seating groups six feet apart in the movie theater, citing ongoing concerns the pandemic poses.
