Sunflower Cinema
220 N. Penn Avenue,
Oberlin,
KS
67749
220 N. Penn Avenue,
Oberlin,
KS
67749
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I found an advertisement for the the Sunflower Cinema in Oberlin, KS. It is advertised as being open on the weekend only. The schedule given was Saturday 7pm and Sunday 2pm. The Sunflower Theatre was opened in a conversion of a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant on July 16, 1977 with Jack Lemmon in “Airport ‘77”. A bowling alley was later added. The Sunflower Cinema was closed in 2018.
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Lost Memory
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My first visit to Oberlin on December 5, 2015…I don’t know the history of the Sunflower. Has the current location always been the venue’s home? It certainly looks new and spiffy from the exterior.
When the Chief Theatre’s roof collapsed in September of 1973 ending the town’s sole movie theater, a creative plan was hatched. The city, unable to court a new theater operator, agreed to build a new theater. But when costs were presented nearing $250,000, it got even more inventive. The town spent $80,000 to convert the - then - recently-closed Pepsi-Cola bottling plant into the Sunflower Cinema. It then sub-leased the venue to Mid-America Theaters which was already operating the twin mall cinema in nearby Hays as well as locations including WaKeeney, Sharon Springs, and Larned.
The Sunflower blossomed on July 16, 1977 with “Airport ‘77.” In 2011, the faculty added bowling to become the Sunflower Cinema and Recreation to diversify. Operated by donors, the plucky cinema continued operations Into 2018. That said, we are guessing “closed” is now its operating mode.
This building was much expanded sometime after 2008. I didn’t bother with an unattractive newer theater like this on my 2010 visit, but the original theater section was on the right. The very blurry 2008 streetview gives some idea of the original appearance. The county parks department still lists the theater and bowling alley, but the FB links provided are dead. The bowling alley was definitely still open in late 2023 (based on a Google review).
A September 29, 2010 article in The Oberlin Herald said that the roof of the former bottling plant in which the original Sunflower Cinema was located became unrepairable and funds were raised to demolish the building and replace it. At the time the article was published funds were still being raised to complete the blowing alley section of the project (probably just outfitting, but the article didn’t specify), but the theater was apparently already open.
So the current theater is the second of its name. The new building was designed by architect Rex Olson of Boulder, Colorado.
Although there are no current movie listing for the house available on any of the movie listing web sites I’ve checked, and so far no Yelp reviews of the facility, there are a number of Google reviews, the most recent of which says it was posted “five months ago,” and the reviewer said the ticket price was seven dollars for a first run movie (which he failed to name) so the place has been in operation at least that recently. The majority of the reviews have five stars, and none fewer than four, so the place appears to be well liked.