CANBY – The historic Canby movie theater is getting ready to make a comeback, and on Saturday local residents were celebrating with a bratwurst feed, an open house – and Peeps.

The colorful marshmallow chicks and bunnies weren’t on the menu, however. They were on display in the theater lobby, as part of an area diorama contest. Kids and adults alike entered their creations, where Peeps reenacted scenes from movies like “Snow White,” “Lord of the Rings” and “Grumpy Old Men.”

“The movie theme goes along with the theater opening,” said Ruth Ascher, one of the Canby community members helping out with the event. Ascher said she had seen Peeps dioramas published in newspapers from other parts of the country. It would be fun to bring the idea to southwest Minnesota, she said.

Contest entrant Melissa Denelsbeck said she had fun making her “Lord of the Peeps” diorama.

“I had settled on either ‘Lord of the Peeps’ or ‘Dances With Peeps,’ but I didn’t have all the little buffalo,” for a “Dances With Wolves” diorama, Denelsbeck said.

Instead, she created marshmallow versions of hobbits and Gandalf the wizard.

“I started making characters, and I did about five of them and I stopped,” she said.

Of course, the dioramas weren’t the only things on display at Saturday’s event. People stopping by to get a look at the dioramas could also see plenty of the renovated Canby Theater. Canby City Administrator Nick Johnson said the theater has been open for three weekends now, after efforts by the city of Canby and area community members to fix up and re-open the theater.

“We have wonderful citizens,” who helped make the whole project possible, Johnson said.

The two-screen movie theater was closed down in 2012. In 2013, Johnson said the Canby City Council and community members started pursuing grants and fundraising the $300,000 or so needed to refurbish seats and convert the main theater’s film projection system to a digital one.

“The city purchased the entire building,” Johnson said, and leases the theater to manager Mike Tesch.

Renovations at the Canby theater have included a completely new concessions stand, new seats and lighting in the main theater, and conversion of the main projection booth to new digital equipment. Johnson said fundraising continues in order to convert the theater’s second screen to digital and make other updates.

The theater was built in 1939, and reminders of its past are part of the decor in the lobby. A collage of reproductions of local movie advertisements covers one wall, and ’30s-era photos of the theater are also on display.

“It was very Art Deco,” Johnson said of the theater’s style. Although the main theater has been repainted and updated with acoustical foam tiles on the walls, some of the original wall decorations were kept as light fixtures.

Visitors at Saturday’s brat feed said they were happy to see the theater open again. Many had good memories of going to the movies in Canby. The theater was a social gathering place in the 1940s, said local resident Margaret Olsen.

“When I was in high school, it was a big thing, to come to a movie,” Olsen said.

Jeff Ferguson said he spent lots of time working to help refurbish the theater marquee.

“I grew up here, and I loved to come to the movies,” Ferguson said. “I did as much as I could to help get it going again.”