(gentle upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Announcer] Good Evening Folks, and a hearty welcome to our drive-in theatre.

We have a wonderful evening's entertainment lined up for you.

- It's a lot to me, 'cause it keeps me young.

I'm not saying I'm stuck in the past, but I had a good childhood and everything, and it just makes me feel good to see history keep going.

I just love to be out here with the music going and stuff.

It just makes you feel like you're back in the old days.

- [Announcer] Watch our screen and local newspapers for all Lapine shows coming this way.

- We're like, we need good family, fun things to do with our kids, and this is something that they can do.

- [Announcer] Show after show, we'll feature the latest hits, the biggest stars for fun-filled, pleasure packed evenings.

- This is kind of our happy place.

So it's where you come to forget everything else in the world and you just come to have fun.

This is our happy place.

- Thanks folks.

And once again, welcome back.

- [Announcer] And tonight's feature presentation of Dakota Life Detours, presents greetings from The Silver Screens of the Prairie.

- This program is made possible with your financial support, and with corporate support from Anthem Oats in Frederick since 1882.

From the family farm right to your pantry, celebrating the simple ingredients of life, and by Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Visitors can marvel at the corn instruction of artwork on the World's Only Corn Palace, or dig up treasures at the prehistoric Indian Village and Dakota Discovery Museum.

Learn more at VisitMitchell.com.

- [Larry] Drive-in movie theaters, we're a staple of Americana in the latter half of the 20th century.

The first drive-in theater in the United States opened June 6th, 1933 in New Jersey.

It was the perfect blend of car and movie cultures.

Drive-ins were popping up all over the country through the 50s and beyond.

And at one time, South Dakota had a drive-in movie theater in every major town in the state.

As a matter of fact, you might often see me in my Lincoln High School letter jacket at the Starlight or the Eastway in Sioux Falls.

And yes, the local drive-in was the place to be on a summer evening, whether you paid or not.

- I know that I was here, and I got snuck into it a few times from my dad.

So that's not maybe not the good history, but that's the kinda history that you remember.

You know, it's the fun.

It's a theater, it's a drive-in.

- But new ways to access entertainment were on the horizon.

In the 70s and 80s, you saw the rise of movie rentals and the VHS tape, that was followed by DVDs in the 90s and more recently, the Blu-ray Disc, and finally, streaming video, first to your computer, and then to your tablet or phone.

And each new technology took its toll on the once beloved drive-in.

Today, there are only an estimated 320 drive-ins left all across the country, but six of those can still be found here in South Dakota.

They're located in the north, the west, and in the center part of the state.

These drive-ins still harken back to an era when the automobile wasn't just a means of transportation, it was part of the family entertainment experience.

You see, there's something uniquely American about the drive-in and something uniquely South Dakotan is that many of our remaining drive-in theaters are and have always been family affairs.

- [Lura] The Winner Drive In has been owned by the Fast family, starting with Harvey and Betty Fast 73 years ago.

The operation also served as a perfect place for their children growing up.

- It was a wonderful childhood.

We had the movies in the spring, summer and fall, and we had our own playground, and we met all the kids that came to the shows.

If it was a good movie, sometimes we'd get out a rollaway and fall asleep watching the show and, you know, but it was good.

It was good.

I couldn't ask for a better childhood.

- [Lura] Through the years, the original owners passed the business on that left Kim and her husband, Larry, running it today.

- Hi!

- He would be surprised, wouldn't he, Kim?

He'd be really surprised today to see how nice it is and very kept on.

A lot of thanks to Kim and Larry for that.

It's spent the world to me, yeah.

No place I'd rather the be than right here.

- [Lura] After 73 years in the business, the Fast family is stepping away from the projector screen, having sold the Winner Drive In in the spring of 2023.

As the credits roll on the Fast family's time running Winners Big Screen up in Miller, there's a group of five families keeping the Midway Drive-In going strong.

- Well, yeah, you know, we do.

You kinda get five cooks in the kitchen.

Fortunately for us, you know, four of my family members, my brother, my sister, my mom and I we're four of the five, and then Mike has been a good family friend.

So it wasn't a hard thing.

You know, our heart spoke more than our heads sometimes, you know, 'cause it was something that we wanted to keep in our community, and, you know, it's something that we, that's all we knew.

We all have full-time jobs that we do.

We just knew what the commitments were gonna be, so that we just kinda had to walk that through.

So with us, five owners, it just seemed like numbers helped more, you know, so with all five of us, instead of just one person or one family.

- [Lura] While five families work in Miller, it's one theater loving family, the Olsons, who own both a downtown theater and drive-in theater in the town of Mobridge.

- I think theater's mean to us, family.

We run it with our family.

It's been a great opportunity for our kids to learn, but it's fun.

People are happy to come.

They enjoy being at the movies.

We like movies.

It's just something that seems natural for us to do.

- [Lura] Like the Olson family, South Dakota's newest drive-in, Roy's in Hermosa, is also family-run.

This time by a father-daughter team.

- This was my dad's idea, and so that's Roy.

And he had been planning this for, I don't, 20 plus years?

I seen many, many, many little drawings out on napkins for years.

And he kept saying, "I'm gonna build it and you're gonna run it."

(laughing) I said, "Okay," and then he did it.

(chuckling) And him and I have become very close in that time.

It means a lot.

He tells me he's proud of me a lot, so that's always nice.

It means a lot.

It does.

- [Lura] While the plan was always intact out at Roy's, it was a change of plans that led the Boyers to buying the Hilltop in Gregory.

- My mother and the owner of this place actually dated for 30 years.

I would watch my mom.

My mom took tickets out here, and I would see Cecil out here mowing.

And I think, you know, it's gotta be really cool.

- [Rick] My wife told Cecil, who nicknamed Slim, that if he ever decided to get rid of it that she would be interested in it.

And he remembered that all those years later and when he retired he called her up.

- I just didn't wanna see it go away.

We bought this May of 2018.

We've been chugging along ever since.

- [Lura] Redfield's Pheasant City Drive-In is another family operation, owned by Dave and Stacey Marlow as well as Stacey's parents.

- My dad runs the ticket booth, my mom pours pop.

I get the movies, get the stuff for the concession stand, do the paperwork, and then my husband starts the movies and takes care of the projector and takes care of the grounds.

- [Lura] And for longtime employee, Tracy Schutte, the joy of working here lies in the memories over so many years.

- I've been working here 18 years and there's been someone in my family working here since probably 1965 or so.

My husband's dad, uncle, his mom, my husband, his sister.

I've worked here and my two kids have worked here.

To have my kids come out here and share those same memories, it's pretty cool.

- South Dakotans pride themselves in being good neighbors, and some see the drive-in as a unique form of community service.

- [Stacey] It makes us happy that we can do something for our town, our area, so that people, families do have a place to go to and something to do at a very reasonable cost.

- It's just, that's all I know is the drive in and it's like our community service to, that's what we do as our community service to the town.

Cause we don't do it to make money - And it takes a lot of those community service hours to keep the six remaining drive-ins in South Dakota running.

They provide not only a unique attraction for area communities but each drive-in has its own unique personality.

- [Greg] The drive-in big screen experience is much more than simply watching a movie.

It's a chance to enjoy an evening outdoors with friends and family.

And each theater provides a unique setting to enjoy.

But to get a truly breathtaking view you're gonna want to get to the Pheasant in Mobridge extra early.

- Yeah, we're pretty fortunate.

It, it is really fun.

Families come, you know, early and they'll park and then they'll walk down and explore down towards the river.

And we really couldn't ask for a better view of Lake Oahe than what we have even from the concession stand.

- [Greg] Royce shows off some of the beauty of the Black Hills and also shows off two towering screens as Roy's is the only twin bill drive-in here in South Dakota.

- [Correna] People seem to not understand that it is two screens and you, it's a double feature.

So they have a lot of questions about, you know which movie plays first, how are we watching two movies you know, one plays first then the second one plays afterwards with an intermission.

It's interesting and it's long, it's a long time for people to be here, but lots of people who do enjoy it so, and they'll stay till one, two o'clock in the morning - [Greg] While the views from these big screens are spectacular.

Drive-ins also bring back a feeling of nostalgia for those of the baby boom generation.

The oldest drive-in theater in South Dakota is The Hilltop in Gregory.

- Well, I think it should mean something.

I think it's, it's one of the oldest, if not the oldest movie theater here.

And it's nice to keep hold of the old-fashioned things that people used to do.

I think it started in the thirties if I remember correctly.

- [Rick] The theater itself is very, very iconic.

I like it.

So it, it means a lot to me and my wife also.

It means a lot to her and it means more to her than me but she means a lot to me.

So it means a lot to me, if that makes any sense to you.

(laughing) - [Greg] The Midway Drive in theater in Miller has plenty of nostalgia, but it's the projector door, which serves as a time capsule of sorts featuring the names of VIPs and other visitors throughout the years.

- We have a door with quite a few names on there.

So all the people that have started the movie and a lot of people that just, you know, celebrities foreign exchange students, they get the nickel tour of how it works and then they get to sign the door and well Kristi Noem signed it.

There's a lot of kids that think they're pretty famous and they've signed it.

so - [Greg] A trip to Pheasant City in Redfield comes complete with classic drive-in speakers which provide a unique experience all by themselves.

- And we still got the old speakers, where a lot of the drives that don't think has the speakers.

And then we, we've got 90.3 FM if you want to use your car radio.

- I really enjoy coming here and working and listen to the music of the speakers.

It's a lot better sound to me than a CD.

It's a drive-in upkeep isn't too bad, you just gotta keep on it, you know, it's 1940s technology but they've got really good sound and I listen to 'em all the time when I'm watching the movie - [Announcer] Now a short hit intermission so you'll have time to make your selection before the show begins.

- Intermission time is a staple of the drive-in.

It's a break to let you know that we're halfway through the feature presentation.

We're also about halfway through our show today.

It's a time to get up, stretch your legs and have a stroll on over to the snack bar and the drive-in snack bars around here are top-notch.

They're full of tasty treats from candy, nachos, and pizza.

But popcorn is still the king.

Everyone likes their popcorn and for many the drive-in experience really can't begin without it.

- [Nate] The fields of South Dakota contain many things and corn is one of the main crops on a warm summer night in the fields that contain the big screens of the prairie, the sight, sound and aroma of this corn is a main attraction.

- You can't go wrong with good movie theater popcorn and it's being popped by the pound across the state - [Correna] Tons of popcorn.

That would be the number one on the menu of course popcorn cuz people will come and get a meal but still come back and get popcorn.

We can go through at least a good 50 pound bag on a on good night of kernels.

- Oh my gosh, lots.

I, on my busiest night have done six bags of corn so I can do 60 pounds on a good night.

So take that time's about 18 years and you got my corn.

- [Kim] I have often wondered that because this is the third popcorn kettle that we have had.

And this one was upgraded to a 32 ounce so it it pops 32 ounces of dry kernels each time.

And we go through a lot of popcorn.

(laughing) I don't know how many tons it's been, but it's been a lot.

- [Stephanie] We buy it by the pallet load.

So that would be, we go through about a pallet of popcorn a year or for our season.

So that's a lot of popcorn.

On a good night we can probably, 50 pounds about 50 pounds of popcorn a night.

That's the kernels that's not at all popped.

I mean, so we can go through quite a bit.

- [Larry] Moviegoers can enjoy their popcorn in many different ways each according to their individual taste.

- This is our popcorn, we have extra seasonings.

You can flavor it any way you want to.

We try to carry a little bit for everybody.

So it's really good to, to hear people say you know, you run a very good concession stand.

- And we gotta have butter.

- [Larry] The nostalgia of the drive-in experience may be due in part to the fact that the methods of providing moviegoer's favorite treat may be the very same as it was for their parents and even their grandparents write down to the exact same machines doing the popping.

- It's the same concession stand and same popcorn popper, gas fired popcorn popper and- - It's, it is probably an original popcorn machine.

It is well seasoned and people, people come for popcorn just on a Saturday night, they'll just come out to buy popcorn.

- We do have like the oldest popcorn machine that's where Roy comes in.

But I think it's from 1930 something it's gas and it makes a ton of popcorn at a time.

- I think it's our oil, what we use.

It's our popcorn, the kind of popcorn we buy.

And then I just think it's our old popcorn popper because we've had it since 1953.

We've had it rewired, but it's the original popcorn popper.

- [Larry] And when you're in charge of the most popular snack that makes you the most popular person in town.

- People know me as a popcorn lady.

I have been in stores in other surrounding towns and people recognize me.

I was in Aberdeen at a store and a lady hollered down the across the store down the aisle, "It's the popcorn lady, what's the movie tonight?"

And it's kind of cool to get recognized and people know and come up and visit and we have our regulars that come in and I just have their popcorn waiting for 'em when I see 'em approach the door I don't even have to wait.

I know what they're gonna get.

And it's kind of cool to just have those connections.

We've seen families come through here and I've watched their kids grow up over the years and they come in with their families now and that's kind of a cool experience as well.

- At the height of the Covid 19 pandemic many people were longing for a sense of normality.

The drive-in was the perfect place to social distance out in the fresh air.

It was the sense of being back to normal with an added dose of nostalgia right along with it.

- [Jackie] The Covid 19 pandemic caused many businesses to shut their doors.

But the built-in social distancing of the drive-in theater brought the Starlight in Mitchell back to life for one final curtain call after a seven year intermission.

- The drive-in looked like the perfect answer at the perfect time.

That this was a time that you could social distance people could feel safe, yet you could go to a movie, you could get out and get together.

You're outdoors, you're not in an enclosed area breathing each other's air, you're in the great outdoors.

And after being closed for another seven years it took a massive effort to clear overgrowth and bushes and shrubbery and repaint every surface inside or out that had ever been painted.

It worked out really very well.

It was gratifying to be able to do it and fun to have the drive in open again.

- [Jackie] But the uncertain times also caused some to remain closed.

- Initially when Covid first hit, we did not open for that one season just because we had family members who were, you know, everyone was afraid of getting Covid.

So we chose to not open for the simple fact that we draw in 14, 15 different communities into our little county.

So we didn't know if that was real advisable.

There was a lot of people who gave us static for that thinking that this is the best pandemic thing you could do.

But yet, we still had us to worry about not only everyone else that would maybe stay in their car, not stay in their car.

And we didn't wanna be like the, the theater police - [Jackie] To those drive-ins that did open the pandemic brought on its own challenges.

- And what we ended up doing and were able to do because the weather cooperated, is we were able to open the drive-in itself.

Not the concession stand or the bathrooms, early.

- Film companies had to cut back on their people.

We were very limited on what we could show.

And that put a big damper on a lot of things because people didn't wanna come and see a movie that was been out for 15 years.

- [Jackie] With a lack of new movies, eager audiences, yearning for entertainment.

And the nostalgia of a drive-in movie meant operators adapted and found success with the classics.

- There were a lot of, you know old ones like we played the old Jurassic Park and old Jaws and you know just some brought back some old movies, you know, and people were extremely grateful that they could have something to do that was safe that they could get away from the house.

- We brought back a lot of eighties movies.

The Goonies brought back, brought a ton of people we probably could have played that all summer and kept this place packed.

- [Jackie] And while classic movies were a big hit theaters also found eager audiences for live socially distanced entertainment thanks to technology.

- There was also Encore Live and they did the concerts and we had the Garth Brooks concert, and the Blake Shelton concert and Metallica concert too.

We had those three and those were fun.

Those were fun too.

So, and people enjoyed those as well.

- We also did a lot of employee appreciation nights where a lot of businesses came.

We learned how to put their stuff on our screens from their computers.

And we have life flight here two years in a row.

Did their training sessions here with all the police and emergency vehicles.

So they came and they did their big training on our screen.

They brought in a helicopter and landed it here so everyone could get inside and check it out.

- [Jackie] And just like that, the clocks turned back and drive-ins were the place to be once again.

- And when they found out that we could keep this open and we figured out a way to make it happen, the kids are so excited.

They were texting me, emailing me "What's the movie this weekend?"

You know, and all that.

And they would stand out the door and wave at me inside here.

And it's really cool to have us a place for people to go that summer and still connect even if it's from a distance from their cars.

- We opened as soon as we could, once the city allowed us to be open it was nice to be able to see people.

They still came through the concession.

We had to put a few protocols in place, made the line the lines a little longer and a little slower, but it meant a lot to be able to continue to have something outdoors and fun for families.

- [Jackie] But through the success came even more challenges.

So much so that the Starlight in Mitchell decided to close once again in the spring of 2023.

- The pandemic gave new life to drive in theaters and at the same time it gave drive-ins a chance to adjust to the ever-changing landscape including the changes in technology.

- At times it's a little scary cuz you, what's the film company's gonna do?

We know, are we gonna get new films?

That means a new projector and an $80,000 projector that's not in my budget.

So it's a scary thought as how long technology is gonna let us run these type of films.

- I remember when mom and dad had it their competition was daylight savings time and then VHS tapes and it just, things added on and on and on, and I honestly don't know, you know, now the the film companies are dropping stuff to streaming so fast that a movie isn't even out for two months and it's on streaming typically.

So it's a challenge, you know, it is a challenge.

- And those challenges don't just include the film companies they include the cars themselves.

- One problem that's come up in recent years for the drive-ins is daytime running lights and some of the car manufacturers having identification lights or the daytime running lights and they're very hard to turn off.

It's unfortunately the car manufacturers no longer think of drive-ins when they've designed the electrical systems in the cars.

- You can't get two cars in between anymore.

The, the space between the speakers wasn't made for the large size cars that we have now.

- But through all of the challenges, there's still nothing like seeing a feature film under the South Dakota night sky.

A feeling that drive-in owners hope will appeal to future generations.

- I can't see it going away because it's a nostalgic type thing to do and people enjoy.

They'll set their chairs out and sit out enjoy the cool breeze and the we have enough speakers that still work, that you can still hear the movie without your car running.

So it, it's still something positive for people to do.

- Well it's just, it's a fun spot to be cuz you even if you come out and you don't know anybody by the end of the night you're gonna know somebody.

We're friendly and everybody in Miller is pretty friendly.

So they come out and they visit and make a new friend before you leave.

- So whether you wanna meet one of these amazing families keeping the local drive in, going or see your favorite film on the big outdoor screen, or maybe just enjoy a delicious bag of popcorn.

These six staples of nostalgia are waiting for you under the evening Prairie Sky.

To watch this episode again, or to see other programs like this, why not use one of your smaller screens and visit our website at sdpb.org I'm Larry Rohrer and I hope you've enjoyed tonight's feature presentation.

Now, please make sure to return your speaker boxes and we will see you again next time under Dakota Life Detours - And now folks, it's time to say goodbye.

We sincerely appreciate your patronage and hope we've succeeded in bringing you an enjoyable evening of entertainment.

Please drive home carefully and come back again soon.

(upbeat music)