In the summer of 2002, Jeff Mexico took a leap of faith and opened Star Cinema.
“The downtown was dead,” Mexico said. “I thought re-opening the theater would help bring the town back to life.”
Mexico was inspired during SummerFest when his then-wife Robin had a booth with her stained glass on Third Avenue near the theater, stimulating ideas about its usability.
“The theater had been closed for two years,” he added. “I told Robin, ‘I’m going to re-open the theater.’ She was like, ‘sure you are!’”
Mexico and his stepson Brian walked to First Street to watch the Stampede cattle drive. He started talking to a “tall, elderly gentleman” and asked if he knew anything about the theater.
“He grinned and said, ‘I built that theater,’” Mexico said. “It was a sign!”
Mexico and Marcel Van became great friends, and the project was given the green light. Mexico approached the city to get approval to re-open and was approved unanimously.
“We got a walk-through and the keys and made a plan to re-furbish the theater,” he said. “It was a lot of work to say the least, but we did it!”
Mexico had planned to continue with Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis, but that changed in 2004 when he decided to quit the Corvallis company to devote all of his time to the downtown Stayton theater.
Highlights of his time with Star Cinema include reconnecting with friends, babies growing up over the years who came to work at the theater, and getting involved with the community.
“Movie studios have always been a challenge, following their rules of what I can and cannot show and for how long,” Mexico said. “It can be very challenging scheduling movies, especially during the holidays and summer, when they release movies too close together so we miss out on some big ones.”
This year, Star Cinema will incorporate its anniversary celebration with its annual “almost-free” holiday movie, The Grinch, showing at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 11. Pajamas are dress for the Jim Carey movie, and Mexico said he is looking at other ideas to make the event even more fun.
“We ask for one can of food or $1 per person for the local food bank,” he said. “We also give a discount every Tuesday if they bring canned food.”
Mexico works with organizations and businesses for “fun events and fundraisers,” he said.
“We rent the theater to schools, businesses and nonprofits as well as private birthday rentals,” he added.
As well as supporting his community, Mexico always looks for ways to improve the movie experience.
“I try to always improve every so often when I can,” he said. “We installed very nice seating with leg room last year. We added beer, wine, cider and food a few years ago.”
Recently, Mexico became a business owner of the Northern Lights Theatre Pub in Salem which he hopes to make “more updated and popular.”
For more information, call 971-666-3246 or visit Star Cinema on Facebook.
