The Spring Grove Cinema at 167 W. Main St. in downtown Spring Grove, Minn., was sold Monday by Spring Grove Communications to Lucas Hall, who plans to continue it as a movie theater, and as a venue for live entertainment and other events.

Hall also plans to create a coffee shop in the concessions area, which will be open during movies and at other times during the week, which also will sell such movie staples as popcorn, candy and soda pop. And he will partner with the local school district to create a student center in part of the building, for eSports, a design lab for high school students and other activities.

The cinema closed Monday for renovations and licensing work that Hall is undertaking. “I’m hoping to be open in February,” Hall told me.

Spring Grove Communications is a cooperative that provides broadband, voice and video services. It built the cinema, which opened in 2009.

In October, the co-op announced that the cinema was being offered for sale through a bid process, and said the co-op would focus on its greatest strength — making lives better by providing an exceptional broadband experience. It chose Hall’s bid for the cinema.

“Lucas Hall presented a bid with a strong, well-thought-out proposal for the future operations of the cinema space, including diversified services and opportunities for collaborations,” said Jacqui VanMinsel, the co-op’s director of business and community affairs. “The cooperative board strongly believes in making the choice that provides the best outcome for its members. Hall’s proposal reflects the greatest chance at long-term success for this community asset by envisioning and outlining a model that will continue to provide this space for entertainn involved in local efforts to create new ways to use the cinema space with the help of a $25,000 Activate Rural Program grant that was awarded by the Department of Public Transformation, a nonprofit organization based in Granite Falls, Minn. Before becoming the theater’s owner Monday, he worked for construction companies for several years. Before that, he was a photographer in the Twin Cities after graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He grew up mostly in Rochester, Minn.

ment, community engagement and cultural experiences.”Hall, who has lived in Spring Grove more g Grove mthan three years, has bee

Hall told me he plans to continue showing first- and second-run movies at the cinema, and occasionally classic and foreign films. He has been reviewing attendance figures for past films. “Maybe there will be some tweaks” to the kinds of movies shown at the theater, he said. “But it will still be kind of what the community wants in terms of the new movies coming out. So the movies won’t change too much. And there will be many more live performances and other events to come.”

For more information, visit www.sgmovietheater.com or the cinema’s Facebook page.

The Eagles Nest sports bar and grill at 1914 Campbell Road, across from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, announced Sunday on its Facebook page that it will close effective Feb. 1.

“We will still host the large groups and parties we have on the books in January and February,” the Facebook post continued. “We will take this time to clean out our equipment and inventory and try to sell and salvage what we can.” The post did not give a reason for the Eagles Nest closing.

I had noticed earlier that the business was for sale. “The Eagles Nest is looking for its next great owner to ensure the game day tradition continues for the foreseeable future,” a July 19 post on its Facebook page had said.

For more information, visit the sports bar and grill’s Facebook page.

Jack Wieman opened LAX Leaves on Nov. 29 in Suite 214 in the Crosseroads Center shopping center at 9348 State Hwy. 16 in Onalaska.

“They’re all industrial hemp-derived products,” such as edibles, other food products, topicals, concentrates, vapes and tinctures, he said of his store’s merchandise. Wieman plans to hold a grand opening celebration sometime in early to mid-January.

Store hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Wieman, an Onalaska native, said he worked in the hemp industry for a few years in Colorado before returning to this area to open his store. He received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2022, then worked in an extraction laboratory that extracted ingredients for products made from industrial hemp.

For more information, call 608-881-6362 or visit www.laxleaves.com or the store’s Facebook page.

David Pehl and his father, Dave Pehl, held a grand opening celebration Dec. 6 for the new showroom at their Turners Ridge Wood Workz business in Suite 127/128 in the Coulee Region Business Center, also known as the small business incubator, at 1100 Kane St. on the North Side of La Crosse.

David, who graduated from Holmen High School in 2020, started the business as a hobby in 2019. It began in his family’s garage, then moved to a shed built in the family’s back yard, before moving to the incubator about two years ago. His father retired after nearly 30 years of working in law enforcement and 23 years in the Army.

The Pehls custom make such things as cutting boards, charcuterie boards, cribbage boards, crosses, pens, wine bottle holders, coasters, plaques and furniture. They sell much of their merchandise at county fairs and craft shows.

“And we have some partnerships with businesses in the community where we provide custom-made items for them to give to customers or employees,” Dave said. “And we’re starting to see more orders come in online” on the Pehls’ website.

Dave Pehl said he and his son don’t use stains or dyes on their wood, and especially enjoy using wood that has a story behind it. For example, they recently made several cutting boards for several siblings from a tree on a farm that the family had recently sold.

Showroom hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with other hours available by appointment. For more information, call 608-797-6818 or visit www.turnersridgewoodworkz.com or Facebook.