Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from the tri-states. Along with this update from Maquoketa, Iowa, we will share additional developments in Tuesday’s edition.

MAQUOKETA, Iowa — An iconic downtown movie theater has reopened under new ownership in Maquoketa.

Voy 2 Theatres recently reopened at 207 S. Main St. under the ownership of longtime employee Taylor Casel. The two-screen theater had been closed since June to allow for the ownership transition and related renovations.

“I have a lot of history here, and the community has a lot of history here,” Casel said of the theater. “It’s been really exciting these last few weekends being able to bring people back in now that things are up and running.”

The theater previously was owned and operated by Dennis Voy, who first purchased the business in 1973. At the time, the downtown theater had only one screen, but Voy eventually expand it to three.

Voy developed health issues in recent years that prompted him to sell the downtown theaters to Casel, a Maquoketa native who worked at the theater for nearly 10 years prior to purchasing the business.

Casel bought two of the three screens to continue operating at Voy Theaters while the building holding the third screen was sold separately. The Voy family continues to operate Voy 61 Drive-In Theatre near Delmar, Iowa.

“We’ve kept a lot of the theater’s same historical vibe,” Casel said. “I think there was a lot of worry that we were going to change the aesthetic of the space, but that’s not what we wanted at all. We just wanted to update and maintain things for our customers.”

As part of those updates, Casel doubled the size of the concessions menu that includes nachos, slushies, soda, a wide variety of candy and more. She also had the restrooms updated and repainted portions of the theater in need of rehabilitation.

Customers also can book private screenings for birthday parties and other events, and in the future, she hopes to expand the Voy Theatres experience even further to include an arcade.

“I have children myself and I know that when I go places, I like to look for something with a variety of things for my boys to choose from,” Casel said. “… There’s some things that I would still like to continue to expand on here, but it’s going to take some time and money first.”

Voy 2 Theatres will have showings at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The theater will open 30 minutes prior to each show, and the list of current screenings can be found online at facebook.com/voytheatres.