ARTICLE AD BOX
In every corner of Minnesota, there are good stories waiting to be told of places that make our state great and people who in Walt Whitman’s words “contribute a verse” each day. That's the theme of our series “Wander & Wonder: Exploring Minnesota’s unexpected places.”
The smell of popcorn fills the air as Dave Quincer turns on lights and sets up the projectors for a Tuesday evening crowd at the Cozy Theatre on Jefferson Street in Wadena.
"It's bargain night and it's raining, so we're going to be busy tonight," Quincer predicts before the doors opened for a 7 p.m. show with “Jurassic World” and “Superman” on the marquee.
A Quincer family member has been running the Cozy for more than a century, starting with Dave's great-grandfather, who left the South Dakota farm where he grew up and bought the theater in 1923.
People are waiting when the doors open and Quincer greets customers from the single ticket booth.
"I've just kind of grown up in the business," he said. "My dad was here a lot, so if I wanted to be around him, then I needed to be here. So, you know, I was here sweeping floors as a 7-year-old kid."
By 13, he was a projectionist. There was one screen. He's 60 now and the Cozy has three screens. Dave owns a second theater in Perham and recently purchased another in Fergus Falls. His son Matthew helps run them.
"This is more than a job," he said. "It's a lifestyle. This is a business that runs you. You don't run your business." A day off for Quincer means he just comes in to set up the theater but doesn't need to be there for the show.
"It's not a business that's conducive to having a great family life sometimes," he says with a wry smile.
It helps that the Quincers all picked understanding spouses.
"My dad married a concession worker. And I did. And Matthew did. And so I guess our spouses all kind of knew what they were getting into," laughs Quincer.
The Cozy opened 111 years ago. It got its name from a name-the-theater contest in 1914. The first talking picture wasn't shown until 1929. In 1938, the theater was renovated with an art deco design.
"That's an original 1938 sound panel on the wall there," Quincer said as he showed a reporter around the main theater.
But film reels have been replaced by digital projectors, a transition that cost $250,000. Theater seats recently gave way to posh recliners that are a draw for movie goers.
"We have to constantly evolve and change to keep our businesses relevant and to keep people wanting to come in the door," said Quincer.
Thriving on family films
Local movie buffs support the theater. As Quincer predicted, this Tuesday bargain night is busy.
Sisters Dee Skogen, 65, and Lynn Kirkland, 62, have been coming to the Cozy for 30 years.
"This is where we get together on Tuesday nights," said Skogen. As they carried popcorn, soda and candy into the theater, the sisters joked they eat healthy but "this is our cut-loose-and do- what-we-want night."
They love the Whiskey Creek Film Festival hosted by the Cozy in September, reveling in the chance to see independent films from around the world at their hometown theater.
Despite the challenges traditional movie houses face in an on-demand society, Dave Quincer said the Cozy is doing well. "We use the analogy in the business that everybody has a kitchen in their house, but they still go out to eat.”
Quincer said every town has a different audience, and he knows the preferences of moviegoers coming to the Cozy.
"I never do well with science fiction movies. Here in Wadena, I struggle with any gangster movie. Most small towns thrive on family-type films," he said.
"And 2026 is going to be a big year. There's ‘Toy Story 5.’ There's another ‘Shrek’ movie. ‘Super Mario Brothers 2.’ That's the kind of stuff that we do well with and that's going to do a lot of business for us."
‘Laughing or crying with other people’
Quincer said there's something about the communal experience of watching movies in a theater. He remembers memorable moments watching the audience watch a film.
"The horror and the jumping back in the seat when the hand came out of the ground at the end of ‘Carrie,’ or the guy's head came out of the window in the boat underwater in ‘Jaws,’" he recalled.
Quincer also ran a drive-in theater here for years and he recalls standing outside during a showing of the movie “Porkies” in the 1980s “and hearing people in 250 cars erupt in laughter."
He gets emotional talking about moments like those.
"Because what you're doing is having that effect on those people sitting in a crowded theater and laughing or crying with other people," he said. "It's a different, unique experience. It's not the same when you're home alone."
Dave is proud that his son Matthew, 28, will be the fifth generation to run the Cozy.
“I grew up here,” said Matthew who this evening is running the theater in Perham, 30 minutes away. "I've got a lot of memories from when I was too young to be useful at all, just following dad around and probably getting in the way and causing more problems than I was helping."
Matthew knew he wanted to be in the theater business when he was 8 years old, and he never wavered in the desire to follow his dad's footsteps.
There's just something about the business that feels right, said Matthew. Some of his best memories are of wild nights when crowds swamp the ticket booth.
"You're sitting there panicking because you're drowning, like you can only sell so many tickets so fast, and it's tough to call that fun, but it's really easy to look back on that and smile," he said.
"I should look back on those moments in horror and never want to live them again, but I look back and smile for some reason."
He feels pride and responsibility in carrying on the Quincer legacy, a sentiment echoed by his dad.
It's a legacy that I'm the caretaker of at the present time," said Dave Quincer. "Matthew will be the caretaker of at some point in time, and hopefully it can continue on."
There is hope the Quincer legacy will continue. Matthew's 7-year-old son recently announced he someday plans to take over the Cozy.
English (US) ·