MURDO -- It wasn’t the grandest theatrical opening Ted Turner has ever attended, but his praise rang sincere when Turner toured the Turner Community Center on Wednesday.

“I’m amazed and tickled to death. That’s what the foundation is all about, to empower youth to get out and do something, not to watch too much TV,” a jovial Turner said. “This is just like a real movie theater. It’s just like the ‘Last Picture Show,’ only this is the first one.”

Turner detoured from a pheasant hunting trip on his nearby ranch to meet a few of his neighbors and preside at the opening of the Turner Community Center, a project of the Turner Youth Foundation.

The foundation is one of Turner’s philanthropic projects. Youth programs in every county where Turner owns property receive an annual stipend.

With more than 50 such youth projects, Turner rarely has an opportunity to attend such gatherings, but the self-described “small-town man” seemed relaxed and comfortable shaking hands and even helped move chairs lined up in front of the center.

After completing a couple of smaller community projects –- a basketball court and playground upgrade -– Murdo’s Turner Youth Foundation decided to tackle something larger and started obligating Turner’s annual $10,000 gift for a movie theater.

The center is a miniature resurrection of Murdo’s movie theater that closed more than 30 years ago. It is the culmination of more than four years of planning and labor by foundation members and others in the community.

The foundation consists of three adults and six students (Carson Moore, Kia Miller, Trait Thorne, Wyatt Walker, Jackson Volmer and Connor Venard) representing grades 7-12 from Jones County High School.

Under the guidance of adult board members Kevin Moore, Jewell Bork and Val Feddersen, the teens developed a business plan, negotiated for the space and learned more than they ever expected to know about grants and renovating an old building.

“They learned how to do something like this and, if you can do this, you can do anything,” Turner said, after cutting a bright, red ribbon to officially open the center. “This is a happy day for all of us.”

The center is located in a portion of the First Fidelity Bank that was once the local movie theater. The floor still sloped, but the big screen was gone. Years spent as a storage area for the bank had left the space in desperate need of repairs, and there was no plumbing.

Last summer, foundation members rolled up their sleeves, recruited family and friends, and started working to transform the rough space into a center they could share with the community.

Moore estimates that more than 2,000 hours of donated labor went into the project.

It took an investment of more than $96,000 to transform the empty shell of the old theater into a state-of-the-art entertainment center complete with a big screen measuring 16 feet by 9 feet tall. The center has a seven-channel surround sound system and a Sony Blu-ray DVD player.

A Pierre movie theater donated seats for 52 patrons, and several local contractors donated labor for wiring and plumbing. The Sioux Falls firm that sold the sound and camera system donated its labor and gave the foundation a “good deal” on the system, Moore said.

The foundation plans to make the center available for community functions and hopes to inspire local businesses to use the center for training sessions and perhaps at some point distance learning.

Not only can a computer be connected to the system, it will also accommodate electronic games.

Reserving time to work on the demanding project was sometimes difficult for the teens on the board, according to Miller, a junior at Jones County High School.

“We’re all in sports, but we kind of worked it into our schedule,” Kia said.

As the community toured the center Wednesday, moms were already talking about a “chick flick” night and teens were contemplating game nights.

“We needed something like this for the kids,” Yvonne Haefner said.

Regular movie nights are planned. Licensing restrictions prohibit the center from charging admission, so donations will sustain the center’s operation. Foundation members will shoulder the responsibility for managing the concession stand and keeping the building clean.

It was a proud moment for the community.

“How many kids can put on their resumes that they helped build a theater?” said Julie Moore, Carson’s mother.

“It’s been a fun project, but it was a lot of work,” Fedderson said.

As Turner left Wednesday, he complimented the students –- and challenged them: “Nice job, kids. What are we going to do next?”

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com.