After a labor of love restoration and a soft opening in early 2025, the Harbor Theater is ready to make its reopening official. What owner Matthew Unzeitig calls “a big experiment,” months of trial runs to see what would work, has finally paid off.
“It looks like it’s working,” he said. “So, we’re kind of officially opening now.”
During those trial months, Unzeitig said they learned a great deal about what the community wants in a theater and what the theater needs from the community.
“People in the small town pretty much will only go to movies on a Friday and Saturday for the most part,” he said. “Any other evening of the week is pretty tough.”
The Harbor Theater currently relies entirely on volunteers, and Unzeitig emphasized that more help is needed, especially from folks willing to run the movies.
The theater has not been turning a profit, but that has not slowed his commitment to restoring the historic building.
“I’m going to do it anyways,” he said. “I’m going to get it all fixed up. If it takes me 20 years, I’ll just pick away at it.”
One of Unzeitig’s goals from the beginning was to create a true community center, a place with a stage, a movie screen, and a sound system that could host more than films. That vision is already taking shape. Breakwall Indivisible recently used the venue to show a documentary and hold an educational session. Braver Angels held a debate on stage. The Friends of the Harbor Theater meet there twice a month.
“There’s been a bunch of things going on,” Unzeitig said. “It’s just kind of growing on its own. Volunteers have been allowing it to expand and people have just been coming more.”
Starting in April, the theater will host a free monthly movie night for veterans, along with a veterans’ coffee break to help choose upcoming films. Unzeitig is also working to launch a free Christian movie night once a month.
Also coming soon is Harbor Bucks, a loyalty program. And a sponsorship program, where supporters can pay $150 to choose a weekend movie and receive recognition in the theater’s marketing, will also roll out.
“We’re hoping to prefund the whole summer with sponsorships,” Unzeitig said.
Both programs will be introduced in more detail at the Grand ReOpening, slated for Friday, April 10. The celebration begins with live music from 5 to 8 p.m., featuring Teague Alexy, Jim Holbeck, and Shore Thing, made possible in large part by a Lovin’ Lake County grant. Food and drinks will be available from Rainy Rose and Harbor Rail. The evening’s film, beginning at 8 p.m., is Cinema Paradiso, the 1988 Italian drama about a filmmaker reflecting on the movie house that shaped his childhood.
The choice is fitting, given that the theater’s biggest draws so far have been classics from the 1980s and earlier.
“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles ended up being one of our better performers,” Unzeitig said. “The Goonies, we have run twice already and had big, good turnouts both times. Those bigger, more dramatic movies are really good in the theater because we have an incredible sound system.”
Looking ahead, Unzeitig hopes to eventually hand over the reins of operations. His long term calling is in international missions work, and he plans to spend time in Africa and Pakistan in the future.
Currently, he is hoping to find someone to take on and direct a nonprofit entity for the theater.
“If we get more volunteers, we can do more stuff. It will not even take any money, we literally just need people with time,” Unzeitig said. “It is Two Harbors’ theater. It is the North Shore. It is the public’s theater. So, it will be what they make it. I am planning on being in charge until the thing is so valuable to the community they cannot let it disappear.”
Plan to appear at the grand reopening celebration (see their ad on page 3). More details and event schedules can be found on the Harbor Theater’s Facebook page.
