Mobile’s fairgrounds complex, known these days simply as The Grounds, is putting real money behind a pledge to become more than a once-a-year attraction. Last week, the venue handed a $3,000 check to the nonprofit that keeps the Crescent Theater running in downtown Mobile – the largest single donation of its kind the facility has made to date.
Max Morey, who operates the Crescent – the small single-screen cinema known for its buttery popcorn and personal introductions before every showing – said the gift will help offset a recent spike in the theater’s rent. The nonprofit Crescent Theater Film Society plans to use the funds to keep ticket prices affordable and the marquee lit.
The Crescent has weathered tight finances since it opened in 2008, including a 2012 campaign that asked loyal moviegoers to help fund a new digital projector. Morey said the theater’s fortunes have improved since, but support from community partners still matters.
In exchange, The Grounds – situated at Zeigler Boulevard and Cody Road, and still recognized by many under its former name, the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds – will begin running short advertisements before movies at the Crescent, testing whether the partnership can become a model for other local sponsors.
The donation is one piece of a broader shift under executive director Scott Tindle, who took over the venue in 2012 and has pushed it to build year-round relationships with community groups rather than operating solely around the annual fair each fall. Tindle, who gained some national attention pitching a necktie-swap idea on a reality investing show before taking the job, said the venue has funneled roughly $300,000 back into the community over the past year.
Recent examples include a fundraiser that let Mobile County students sell fair tickets and keep a cut of the proceeds for their school libraries, raising $30,000; a repeat of that program is planned for September with a goal of $100,000. The Grounds has also let the Mobile County school system park roughly 380 buses on its lots at no charge while pavement work was underway elsewhere, and hosted a February fundraiser for McKemie Place, a shelter for homeless women, that brought in $20,000.
Other groups that have received support or discounted use of the facility include Victory Health Partners, the American Cancer Society, Light of the Village, the Alabama Coastal Foundation and the University of South Alabama, among others. ROTC units from area high schools can also use the grounds for free in return for helping staff turnstiles during the fair.
This year’s Greater Gulf State Fair is scheduled to run Oct. 24 through Nov. 2, and Tindle said boosting community goodwill is now as much a priority as boosting attendance.