July 3, 2008 Issue
Business Spotlight
Dragonfly Theater & Pub—A Labor of Love for the Good of the Community
Story by Sam Calhoun
Dragonfly Theater & Pub Owner Sheri Baker describes entrepreneurship as jumping out of an airplane and building your parachute on the way down. Even though Baker can’t take credit for the quote, it is an apt description of the last two years of her life.
Armed with a vision for an independent and mainstream movie theater that serves good food, Baker quit her job 2.5 years ago and secured a space for her dream 2 years ago. Now, after 32 months of hard work, Dragonfly Theater & Pub is hosting a soft opening next week. For the first two months, the theater will offer one to two new movies per week, as well as concessions, such as popcorn, candy and soft drinks. In approximately two months, Dragonfly’s kitchen and bar will open, and the establishment will begin offering opportunities for private parties and live music.
Dragonfly Theater & Pub is located at 215 Boone Heights Drive, Suite 301 in Boone, near Outersanctum Salon and Mountain 1st Bank and Trust. Baker doesn’t know the exact opening date but said she will announce the opening date on RaysWeather.com, HighCountryReport.com and on a large banner outside of her building.
Dragonfly Theater & Pub is a new concept for the High Country but represents a business idea that is booming in cities across the nation. Sometimes called a “Brew & View” or a “Cina-Diner,” Dragonfly is a movie theater with tables, couches, a bar and real food options, according to Baker.
Dragonfly features a 2,000 square foot auditorium with 114 seats of three different varieties. Patrons can choose to lounge on one of the four front row couches, to dine and watch at one of the tables or to drink and watch on one of the many bar stools. Bathrooms are in a separate hallway and the kitchen and bar are in the back of the building.
Dragonfly will only sell concessions for the first two months while the kitchen is completed, but the menu will soon include pizza, calzones, breadsticks, salads, nachos and, of course, beer and wine.
“We will, of course, be adding more options as we grow,” said Baker.
The theater will feature a mix of independent and mainstream movies that will run for one to two weeks. This summer, Baker hopes to arrange for a healthy offering of family films to match the summer clientele and then to diversify the selections in early fall. Baker is showing Then She Found Me—an independent film starring Bette Midler, Helen Hunt and Matthew Broderick—as the theater’s first movie. Two movie poster cases are displayed outside showing the movies of the week, and listings will be included in High Country Press on a weekly basis.
The theater features one oversized screen. Whereas most movie theaters use screens measuring 10 by 25 feet, the screen at Dragonfly is 12 by 28 feet. During movies, the lights will only be slightly dimmed to enable comfortable dining.
Baker, 31, is originally from Vancouver, Wash. She came to Boone in 1994 to attend ASU, gradating in 1998 with a degree in accounting. After working for IBM in Raleigh for one year, Baker left the country for Africa to participate in mission work. In 2001, she returned home and took a job at Samaritan’s Purse.
Three years later, Ben Witherspoon, one of Baker’s friends, came to her with an idea for a “Brew and View” and Baker loved the idea. For the next two years, the friends cultivated their idea.
After two years passed, Baker quit her job and decided to chase down the dream of opening the theater and pub. But there were two problems—she didn’t have any money and Witherspoon wasn’t in the right place to drop everything and start a new business.
Baker soon solved her problems, though. She took out a loan from the bank and asked Witherspoon if she could go ahead with their plans without him. Witherspoon gave her his blessing and she went to work.
“I had this vision—that’s what got me through it,” said Baker. “When obstacles come up, you just have to say ‘Okay, let’s make this happen.’”
Baker researched similar businesses online and called owners all over the country. She secured a movie broker and a location within six months and then hired Green Architecture and King Construction to help make her dream a reality.
Baker has always loved movies, but that wasn’t the main driving force behind her dream.
“After living here since 1994, you realize what Boone needs—what works and what doesn’t work,” said Baker. “I wanted to bring good food to Boone and not just mainstream movies that only cater to teenagers and kids. Of course we have kids’ movies, but that’s not all.”
Baker plans to show the full spectrum of movies—from foreign films to low budget, from independent to mainstream, from old to new.
“I don’t want to stigmatize this place to one market group,” she said. “I want everyone to feel welcome here.”
Once fully completed, Dragonfly will be much more than a movie theater and pub. Starting in the fall, Baker hopes to host live music in the theater on a stage that will soon be built. During live music events, Baker plans to take out all the chairs, tables and couches, leaving space for more than 300 people.
Dragonfly will begin by showing its movies on a 35-millimeter projector, but Baker plans to install a digital projector in the near future. Once the digital projector is installed, people will be able to book the theater for private parties and play their own DVDs on the big screen. The digital projector will also enable Baker to show sporting events on the big screen.
“It’s really a good versatile space—nothing is bolted to the ground,” said Baker.
Dragonfly Theater & Pub is located at 215 Boone Heights Drive, Suite 301, in Boone. As of next week, the theater will be open every day in the summer at movie times, and will also be available for private parties. For more information, call 828-262-3222 or click to www.dragonflytheater.com.
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