Villisca is Gets the (Motion) Picture on Placemaking

In my youth, I spent quite a bit of time in and around Villisca, Iowa. It has always been a nice, quiet little town. Unfortunately, probably its biggest claim to fame is the Villisca Ax Murder house. A house that has drawn the interest of ghost hunters (and related TV shows) for decades. But the community has distanced itself from that horrid moment in time and evolved into a wholesome family-oriented community in Southwest Iowa.

At the center of their efforts are residents with a never-ending desire to make the community better. These individuals are infused with a desire to help their community. A sense of volunteerism that every community needs to improve. They also understand the need for placemaking to create gathering spaces that improve the town’s overall sense of community. Their latest project creates the setting for community gatherings on a regular basis with a focus on movies.

The Idea

The residents of Villisca have been keenly aware that they were missing the types of community events that bring the whole family together. Noting a somewhat similar idea in Parsons, Kansas, they came up with the idea of painting the sidewall of a downtown building to act as a movie screen for community movies. However, project leaders in this southwestern Iowa town decided to expand on it and format it to best fit their own community.

The resulting movie screen will be a prominent piece in the community’s downtown for years to come. Residents will be invited to set up their lawn chairs to face the side of 409 S 3rd Avenue to take in a movie open to the public.

The downtown businesses have latched onto the idea as well. Moviegoers will be able to pick up a bag of popcorn from Stoner Drug Store to munch on during the movie. Or they’ll grab a John Wayne burger at the Rialto Cafe before the movie starts. Named after the former movie theater in town, the Rialto has started giving some of its dishes movie-related names.

Multiple Funding Sources at the Box Office

Being a community of roughly 1,000 residents, stakeholders have had to get creative with project funding. First and foremost, they were able to land a Paint Iowa Beautiful grant from Keep Iowa Beautiful and Diamond Vogel Paints of Orange City, Iowa. It was Villisca’s second Paint Iowa Beautiful grant as they had already received funding for another to paint a mural on the side of another building just over a block away from the planned movie facade.

The grant awarded provides 10 gallons of paint for the project. It doesn’t cover the full cost of painting the side of the building. But considering the cost of 10 gallons of paint, it is well worth filling out the application, according to Alex Burton of the Villisca Community Betterment Association. “That’s a huge portion of the cost for us, especially as we are choosing to use local artists,” he states.

Though the grant doesn’t require matching funds, the Villisca Community Betterment Association helped provide the gap funding for the painting of the building. Project leaders were also able to secure funding from the Montgomery County Community Foundation to pay for the sizeable projector needed to cast movies onto the wall during the summer evening hours when the sun hasn’t set just yet.

Showing Soon in a Theater Near You

Alex and the others involved in the project have started on the project with a goal to be completed with the project well ahead of the July 4th holiday. Although July 4th is the 250th birthday of the United States, it is also when the town celebrates its annual Villisca Heritage Days.