Chris, back in the late 90s a man whose company specialized in small town theatres came to our town, found an empty building and began the permitting process. Our town council who had designated a piece of property where they expected some corporation to magically appear someday, and build a BIG movie theatre (just like they had in the BIG cities) denied his application.

Back then, I was managing the downtown revitalization program and got a call for help from the old timers who had started our town's bank (which most of our businesses, ranchers and farmers relied on). I did some research, the owner shared his business model with us, and sure enough, the small town theatre company was exactly what we needed. Our town could actually support one of his theatres.

That theatre is still open and sits in the middle of our downtown which is now so packed with shoppers and small businesses - all day, every day of the week.

I tell this story, because corporations have destroyed rural economies. Our town learned this hard lesson the hard way. To succeed small towns and rural communities need small businesses that understand how our local economies actually work.

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