The countdown is on for the Merritt Community Cinema Society to raise $275,000 to pay for the piece of property it wants to build a four-bay, first-run movie theatre on.

The society has until Dec. 19 to pay for the property it secured in early November.

So far, the group has about $30,000 in the bank and about $70,000 promised to them, but Cinema Society member Kurt Christopherson said now is the time for community members to show their support for the project.

The society is looking at the local business community to help cover the remaining cost as the project is intended to help revitalize Merritt’s downtown core, Christopherson said.

“We think this is our kick at the can but we need your help,” he told about 30 people from the local business community at Brambles on Tuesday evening.

“You need a firm foundation to start with. I think the business community is the firm foundation,” he said.

Christopherson said while the group has a contingency plan if it doesn’t get the full amount from locals, the idea is to show enough community support for the project for it to go ahead and for the society to seek larger corporate sponsors.

“I don’t want to say we have all the money. We’ve got some guarantees that we can get it, but that won’t solve the problem. It has to come from the grassroots, otherwise nobody else will buy into it,” he said.

He said the group won’t be going after any tax dollars in Merritt, although it considers provincial and federal grants fair game.

“It’s not going to be a drain on public coffers,” he said. “It’s kind of a philosophical thing, but we think Merritt taxpayers should be paying for the roads, sewers, and water and stuff like that.”

He said federal and provincial grants tend to favour grassroots movements, and that’s what the society sees this project as. Throughout the meeting, he reiterated the society needs to be able to show other potential sponsors that community members support the project.

“Either we’ve got a community that wants to build it or we don’t. I think we’ve come as far as we can as a committee before we take that next leap of faith,” he said.

The group got the main piece of land and another piece of property about half a block away for $275,000. Originally, the group of former owners wanted $475,000 for the property and $175,000 for the associated piece of land.

Christopherson said those owners went for the deal after the realtor told them what it would be used for.

The associated property is on Quilchena Avenue near the train tracks and was one caveat of the deal as it can be used for additional reciprocal parking.

Paying for the land is the first step in the roughly $5-million project. The society has put a thermometer on the sold sign at the property on the corner of Coutlee Avenue and Garcia Street that will gauge their fundraising.

If the society doesn’t get the money in time, it forfeits the property and its deposit.