“We were meeting to look at reducing our audience size and social distancing. And then the next day, March 17, everything shut down,” said Kay Ross, a board member. “There is a bar or restaurant or event space owner that doesn’t remember that date.”

During the down time, the board and staff of the theater had to get creative to bring in revenues. They started offering concession sales during the spring months, which HERO said proved to be popular.

“Who doesn’t love a bag of movie popcorn?” asked board member Jeff Pingel.

In the summer, HERO collaborated with the City of Webster City and brought outdoor Friday night movies to Availa Bank Plaza. Families were encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets — socially distanced, of course — to watch the movies.

Madison Pingel works the cash register at the Webster Theater Wednesday night. All of the staff members wear masks and concession workers wear gloves to prepare food for movie patrons.

The Webster Theater opened its doors again in October, and have been showing films ever since.

The board members admitted that it’s been difficult to get movies during the pandemic, as the movie studios pushed back release dates and even took films direct to streaming services.

Wonder Woman 1984 showed for three weeks at the Webster Theater. Like many other movies, it was released on a streaming service the same day it opened in many theaters.

“We can’t really say if the streaming impacted our audiences because we opened it two weeks later,” said Pingel. “We showed it for three weeks and had pretty good turnout, considering the times we’re in. It probably would have done better in non-COVID times.”

Audiences have slowly been returning to the theater, according to manager Ann McLaughlin.

“We’ve got several regulars who were right there when we opened, ready to go to the movies,” she said. “I think that the people who are staying home probably aren’t seeing our posts on social media, and probably aren’t driving past to see what’s playing on the marquee.”

“There are a lot of people who still don’t know we’re open again,” Pingel said.

The theater was able to open again as they are following CinemaSafe protocols to ensure a safe experience for movie fans.

“That made it kind of easy for us. We’re following what they suggest,” said Pingel.

“We have only a 50 percent capacity right now,” McLaughlin said. “Basically every other row is blocked off and five of the nine seats are blocked off. So you can have sets of four seats together.”

If a couple comes in to auditorium, they are given a four-seat block.

“If one person goes to the theater, you’ve got three unused seats around you,” said Pingel.

As moviegoers purchase tickets, they select their seats and those seats are then marked off of a Google chart, McLaughlin said.

“If they decide they want to change seats, we just ask that they let us know, so we can mark those off,” Pingel said.

Masks are required to enter the theater, but once the patron is seated, they can remove their masks, Pingel added.

Every night, the staff sanitizes and cleans the auditorium, concessions area and bathrooms.

“We sanitize everything,” McLaughlin said. That’s part of the guidelines set forth by the National Association of Theater Owners. Staff members are all masked while in the building.

“We’re also operating just one register, and the person is handling the all the food preparation,” she said. “The food person wears gloves.”

The theater continues to offer curbside pickup of popcorn, Ross said, adding that the crunchy treat would be a great addition to any Super Bowl party.

The HERO board members said the movies are starting to become more available. But ultimately, going to the movies is more than just finding a great flick.

“It’s about the smell of the popcorn, seeing the movie on the big screen and sharing the laughter with other people in the theater,” Pingel said. “It’s about that shared experience.”