It’s the end of an era — but a new one is on the horizon.

The community turned out for a “Thanks for the Memories” party at the Homer Theatre, hosted by longtime owners Jamie and Lynette Sutton and theater staff on Friday, Aug. 16. The party was held in advance of the sale of the theater, which is currently set to close at the end of the month.

The event began with an open house, where community members browsed through movie posters and memorabilia and shared stories of their memories at the theater over the years, followed by a free movie screening of Pixar’s “Up.”

Originally built in 1956, the Homer Theatre is the longest-running movie theater in Alaska. The Suttons purchased the theater in 2002 and ran it as a “beloved local business” for more than 20 years. In addition to showing the latest blockbuster movies, the theater also hosted community fundraisers, an annual documentary film festival, birthday parties, live music, screenings of the Metropolitan Opera and Bolshoi Ballet, Shorebird Festival events, Miss Homer pageants, political debates and independent films.

The Homer Theatre showed “Despicable Me 4” as the final film screening on Aug. 9-12.

“(The Homer Theatre) would like to thank the entire Homer community for being the most incredible, enthusiastic audience a small, independent movie theater could ever ask for,” the theater’s website reads. “We wish the very best to the new theater owners and are so thrilled that Homer will keep having a fun place for folks to get together and go to the movies!”

Homer Theatre staff Claire Peyton, Colleen Carroll, Piama Svoboda, Danny Rios, Jr. and Abi Rios pose with cups of “the best hot, buttered popcorn in Alaska” during the theater’s “Thanks for the Memories” community party on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting