Talk of the Town - Whitley County

(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Chris Jones, owner of Bones Theatre, stands in the projection above the nearly one year old theatre in Columbia City. Jones says the business continues to grow and that he's tentatively planning to build similar theatres in other communities. Below, an exterior photo of the Bones Theatre, film intricately coiled and awaiting the next showing, and a birdseye view of one of the theatre's four auditoriums. 

By Jennifer Zartman Romano

After many decades without the thrill of a own hometown movie theatre in Columbia City, local residents’ long time wish came true almost a year ago with the opening of Bones Theatre on Opportunity Way.

Looking back over the year, Bones Theatre owner Chris Jones has a lot to be proud of – the countless families who’ve created new traditions of movie-going together, great levels of community involvement, developing a creative work environment where employees are encouraged to make things happen and becoming the first theatre in the entire state of Indiana to be accessible to both the visual and hearing-impaired.

Last summer, after significant fundraising efforts by Jones and the Lakota Chapter for the Blind, the Mopix system was installed at Bones Theatre. Utilizing tools to make the movie-going experience special for those with visual and hearing impairments, Jones sees it as a tremendous benefit that entire families who may not have been able to enjoy movies together at a theatre in the past may now do so together at Bones Theatre.

“It’s very cool to see the deaf and blind use Mopix,” Jones said. “They all make a point to stop and thank us – particularly families with a blind or deaf child. Typically, in the past they had to wait for DVDs with closed captions.”

“Half of it is the ride home in the car,” Jones continued. “On the ride home, they can recite the funniest lines in the movie in the car. Before, the richness of that experience was gone.”

In addition to the obvious uses for the theatre – watching films – the site has welcomed annual meetings, field trips and other special events, including the wildly popular free family movies in the summertime. Most recently, at the urging of several employees, Jones further expanding the theatre’s use by hosting a giant video game tournament over Christmas vacation.

Three people, Lindsey Craven, Courtney Blankenship and Columbia City Police Chief Michael Petersen, had an idea. They suggested an X Box tournament on the big screens with one auditorium full of players playing against three others. The format pitted 16 players against each other at a time, rotating every 20 minutes.

“They came to me and said, ‘Chris, you’ve gotta do this,” said Jones. He then encouraged Craven and Blankenship to put together a business plan that would outline their ideas and solutions. Jones, a big believer in empowering his employees, was thrilled with the resulting enthusiasm and work his employees put into making the first-time event happen.

“I wanted their ideas demonstrated in written format showing exactly what they wanted to do,” he said. “Their proposal was nicely done and I was sold.”

While Jones concedes that the X Box event wasn’t necessarily a money-maker, it provided a neat opportunity for the community. “It was just fun,” he said, “and this is a place of fun. That’s why I do what I do – I’m too much of a big kid myself!”

In the year ahead, Jones is looking forward to continued growth – not only at Bones Theatre but in other locations as well. Most recently, residents from the city of Bluffton have been talking with Jones about building a theatre there. A public forum on the matter demonstrated that the community is very open to the idea of a theatre like Bones Theatre.

“The concept was very well received,” Jones said. Bluffton is an ideal community for a theatre like Columbia City currently enjoys.

“Bluffton has 1,000 more people in their downtown than we do here,” Jones said. Also, the city is at least 25 miles from the nearest theatre. Like Whitley County, they have three high schools.

Additionally, Jones has found interest in several other neighboring communities to build theatres there.

Jones shared that he has a goal of building five theatres within the next 20 years – the first of which was Bones Theatre.

“We’re going to do this again,” he said. “We plan to build the same building in all these communities.” Jones explained that the current theatre floor plan works well and added, “We know what costs are involved.”

If Bluffton were to get a new theatre, Jones expects the process, once officially initiated, to take approximately 18 months to complete. Will it be named Bones Theatre as well?

Likely not, Jones said. He said he’d like to potentially involve the community in naming his next theatre for the level of ownership that would give that community.

As for our own Bones Theatre, “It’s been a great first year,” Jones said. “We continue to grow – our attendance continues to rise.”

Jones said he continues to see new faces walk through the doors and gradually, he’s seeing more and more guests coming to Columbia City from surrounding counties to watch movies – particularly guests from Noble County.

On one recent occasion, 140 students from West Noble High School took a field trip to Bones Theatre for their own private movie showing, a service Jones enjoys offering.

Jones is excited about the many great movies on the horizon this spring and summer, including the Dr. Seuss movie in March.

“When the movies are good, it’s easy,” said Jones.

While he may celebrate the first year anniversary in other ways in the near future, Jones plans for Saturday, February 23 to be the big celebration day. All active military personnel and veterans are invited to attend a movie for free Saturday by showing their valid government ID. Additionally, the Indian Springs Middle School cheerleaders are collecting used cell phones that will be converted to calling cards for soldiers’ use.

For more information about Bones Theatre, films currently showing and movie reviews, visit www.bonestheatre.com