21 years of service

Steenbakkers looks back on Hyart trials and successes

When it comes to historic places like the Hyart Theatre and the numerous issues and changes the venerable facility has gone through over the last 20-plus years, it helps to have someone in charge with lots of institutional memory. And when it comes to the Hyart and institutional memory, Mike Steenbakkers has it – in spades.

Steenbakkers joined forces with other local volunteers in 2004, not long after he and his wife, Kelly, moved to Lovell (early 2003), as a member of the new Hyart Restoration Committee, which was working diligently to bring the theater back to life after it had been closed for 12 years due to its aging equipment.

He soon became president of the committee, a post he held until recently, when he handed the reins to longtime board member Todd Wilder. Steenbakkers remains on the committee while a replacement is considered, and last week he looked back on the history of the Restoration Committee and his involvement.

A theater reborn

After approaching the Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce in April of 2004 with her idea to revitalize the theater built on Main Street in Lovell by Hy Bischoff in 1950, Lovell native EmRee (Moncur) Pugmire got to work organizing committees, and one of the first persons she contacted was Steenbakkers, who had recently taken a position at the Bank of Lovell. He’s been involved ever since.

“EmRee called me and asked me if my wife and I would like to go out to dinner with her and her husband,” Steenbakkers said. “And she said, ‘This is an idea my sister and I have. We’d like to see about opening the theater again.’ … EmRee really headed it up.”

Steenbakkers said theater owner Loretta Bischoff generously granted the committee the opportunity to go to work on the theater, and the project was launched, with a goal set to show movies that fall.

Several subcommittees were formed: Construction, chaired by Jeff Pugmire; Operations, chaired by Jessica Garza (now Carr); Marketing, chaired by Steenbakkers; Technical, chaired by Sherie Monk; Fundraising/Events, chaired by Jennifer Martinez-Sessions (now D’Alessandro); and Business Structure/Finance, chaired by Doug Russell and Brett Crosby. And it wasn’t just committee heads who stepped forward. People volunteered in myriad ways, he said.

“People came forward and said, ‘Well, I used to work the popcorn machine,’ and ‘I used to run the projector,’ and ‘I know how to do that. I’d be willing to help you.’ And so we had just a huge response from the community, as well as donations,” Steenbakkers said. “I want to say that our goal, if I remember correctly, was five or ten thousand dollars to get it running. We figured that’s how much it would cost to get everything put together, to be able to do marketing and get the projector working and make sure concessions were up and ready to go.

“And so that’s what we had hoped to just have an opening, to be able to show movies. We didn’t expect the response at all, which was huge.”

The grand re-opening took place on November 13, 2004, with the showing of the film “Spider-man 2,” and Lovell native Dennis Lynn, who had Hollywood connections, arranged for a host of dignitaries to attend the event including singer Jessica DiMond, producer/writer/director Cindy Bekale and actor Jose Solano (“Baywatch”), plus a gymnast dressed up as Spider-man.

The re-opening drew regional interest, and the theater was packed for the first showing and nearly full for the second, with an estimated 1,500 moviegoers seated for the showings, which grossed an estimated $9,000 for the restoration effort.

With the success of the grand re-opening, Loretta Bischoff gave the go-ahead for the committee to proceed with further weekend showings and theater upgrades, and the non-profit Hyart Redevelopment Corporation was formed. She eventually gifted the theater to the corporation with the agreement that, if the theater were to ever close, it would revert back to her family trust.

The committee has functioned well over the years operating the family-friendly, non-profit theater. Other longtime committee members along with new president Wilder are Jack Brinkerhoff and Oliver Mitchell, EmRee Pugmire having moved out of state. After initial manager Jessica Carr moved, Wendy Roth was hired as the theater manager and held that position until her passing in March of 2024.

“I was the vice president, and somewhere around the end of the first year, she (EmRee) and Jeff ended up moving to Colorado, and I took over as president, never expecting to be in that seat for 20 years,” Steenbakkers said. “I think the seat was supposed to be three years, and we’d re-vote every three years on the positions.”

Digital conversion

With the theater up and running, more challenges awaited. With a nationwide shift by the motion picture industry to digital projection, the Hyart faced a pivot point in 2012: Either convert to digital projection or close. “Go digital or go dark” became the rallying cry, and the committee, with Steenbakkers at the point, set out to raise a required monumental amount of money.

“We were going to have to go digital, and I want to say the bid was going to be, like, 65 or 75 thousand dollars for the projector,” he said. “And then they told us that if you’re going to go digital, you really need to go digital sound, as well, because the old sound equipment wouldn’t handle it. And so they told us that was going to be another $50,000 for digital sound. … It ended up being about $145,000 or $150,000 total cost.”

The community came through in a big way, and people gave what they could, often small amounts, while other individuals and companies were able to give more, with the largest donation being $30,000.

“We sent letters out to the businesses, and I personally called on most of the largest employers around here,” he said. “A lot of companies kicked in, you know, $500, $1,000, $3,000, $5,000, and then we had a lot of community members that gave one dollar or two or five dollars in the bucket -- to some local people who donated $1,000 or more. The community has always been good about making donations and helping us out and keeping us going.”

The fundraising funded brand new, state-of-the-art equipment, and the now digital theater re-opened after installation in early April, 2013.

Then came the hailstorm. On July 26, 2018, a massive hailstorm tore through north Big Horn County and shredded not only shingles, siding and trees but also the Hyart’s historic neon sign. Seven years later, the tall pallet sign has been repainted, but a way of replacing the lights has proven to be elusive, as efforts to hire companies to install neon or LED lighting have been fruitless, fraught with dead-ends and promised work.

“We had the sign repainted and some repairs done to the vertical sign but never got the lights done, and some things fell through the cracks,” Steenbakkers said. He said he recently talked to a man from a sign company who happened to stop by the bank, and there is renewed hope that LED lights could be installed, a project largely funded by Loretta Bischoff’s estate.

“That’s now been picked up by the board, since I talked to that gentleman, they’re now reaching out and trying to work something to see if we can’t get the sign lit back up,” he said.

The final challenge took place in early 2023. On Christmas Eve of 2022, water lines broke during frigid weather in the region, and water poured into the lobby and out onto the sidewalk in front of the theater. Once the water was turned off and the lobby dried, a major project to remediate asbestos and restore the lobby was undertaken. The theater was closed for two months and finally reopened for the weekend of March 3-4, 2023, after asbestos removal, repairs, deep cleaning, new concessions stand equipment and moving furniture, equipment and supplies back into place. It took two more years for carpet to be installed.

“Of course, we survived through COVID, as well,” Steenbakkers said. “That was a big challenge for us. And luckily, we had people like Stacy Bair that are just creative, that said, ‘Hey, you know what? People can’t come to the movie, but they’re watching movies at home, and they’d still love to have the popcorn.’ And so she came up with the idea of selling popcorn on Friday and Saturday nights outside, on the sidewalk. And so we did that, and people would come and buy popcorn, just so that we had money to pay the bills.”

Remaining challenges

There are remaining challenges facing the historic theater beyond the lights including repairs to the marquee and the roof.

“The front needs to be repainted and repaired,” Steenbakkers said. “There’s rust and, some of the lights don’t work. So we need some electrical work. We need some metal work done to repair where the rust is bad. … We miss having it (the sign) lit up, and we’ve had a number of people in town express that.

“We want to light it up. As Elsie (Martens) says, we want to light it up for Loretta. Loretta always wanted to see it lit up again. And we’ve got the roof. The roof is going to have to be repaired or replaced at some point. The chairs are getting really old. They’re still the original chairs, so they’re 75 years old.”

Steenbakkers said the theater is holding its own financially. He pointed out that Loretta Bischoff always wanted the Hyart to be a family friendly theater, and part of that was keeping the prices down. Ticket prices were $4 for many years, then $5 for probably 10 years, he said, before rising to $6 a few weeks ago.

“It’s still the best deal that you’re gonna find around here at a movie theater,” Steenbakkers said. “You get the big screen with the digital sound, and we’ve tried to keep it family budget friendly, as well.”

But future projects will take money.

“Right now we are covering the bills and things,” he said. “During COVID and stuff it was hard, and luckily, just from some different grants and stuff we were able to get from the state we were able to keep the doors open, but, yeah, we make enough money to keep it going but not enough money that we just have $10,000 or $20,000 to paint the front of the building. And so when it comes to maintenance and projects, yeah, we don’t. We’re not making enough to cover a lot of those things.”

With the help of the Bischoff estate the lights can be funded, and at that time of celebration, perhaps the community would step forward to finish the rest of the repairs to the marquee in the form of cash donations or in-kind labor, Steenbakkers mused.

A great ride

Steenbakkers said he has truly enjoyed his 21 years of involvement with the Hyart.

“It’s been a fun board,” he said. “It was a fun project to get involved with originally. It’s been fun to serve with different members of the community and with all the different groups that have come in and out. And being the president keeps you active in a lot of things. We’ve got a good, solid board with people that want to see it succeed.”

Wilder replaced Steenbakkers as president, and Mitchell is the vice president, Rick Schroeder treasurer and Mindy Tippetts secretary. Other board members are Brinkerhoff and Christina Robertson. The board is sifting applications for Steenbakkers’ replacement.

Steenbakkers said he appreciates the work and dedication of longtime theater manager Wendy Roth before her passing.

“Wendy, in particular, had a love for the arts and for the theater,” he said. “And one thing that I’ve noticed about all of us that work there, volunteer there or have been on the board, we’re all very protective of the theater, and Wendy was kind of like me. She didn’t grow up here, didn’t spend her entire life here, but she grew to have a great love for the theater and for protecting the building and making sure we can continue to run it.”

Current manager Linda Mangus has stepped well into Roth’s shoes, Steenbakkers said, adding, “Just like the other managers, she’s really taken possession, and it becomes their baby.”

He said Janelle Workman is the head projectionist.

Though stepping off the board, Steenbakkers said he will continue to help when needed.

“A lot of people have asked me if I regret now stepping down, and I don’t,” he said. “It’s weird to think that the decisions that are going to be made, but I’m not part of that, that my knowledge, my ideas, my influence won’t be felt as strongly. But just because I’m not on the board doesn’t mean that I have forsaken (the Hyart). I haven’t given up on the Hyart, and I’ll be attending movies, and I’ll be helping with fundraisers. Just like a lot of people in the community, I’m a phone call away and would be more than willing to help out where needed.”