It all started this week when I noticed that the Kanopolis Drive-In was posting remodeling photos and video on its Facebook page. Then I saw a comment there that the new owners were doing a good job of bringing the restrooms to the modern age. And that’s how I learned that Tyson Moyer and his wife, Jessica Eagle-Moyer, had puchased the drive-in last November from Josh and Amanda Webb. That story was covered very nicely by the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter.
Putting on my historian hat, I can tell you a little more about this drive-in than when I first virtually visited years ago. On CinemaTreasures, someone posted a personal visit in 2010 with then-owner Irene Pacey, who said her father, Anthony Blazina, built the place in 1952 and owned it ever since. That mostly lines up. Reports show that Blazina opened what was then the Lakevue Drive-In in Kanopolis with just 186 in-car speakers. He also (still?) owned the Kanopolis in 1976 when he announced he’d show The Story of O, then decided against it. A Salina Journal article in 1988 quoted Blazina, still the owner, as saying he built the drive-in himself “in the dead of winter … with an old Ford tractor and a scoop.” The article said that opening day was May 23, 1952.
On the other hand, some reports in Boxoffice point to other owners, or at least operators, in between. Commonwealth Theaters transferred Frank Dodson to manage the Kanopolis Drive-In in early 1955, and he bought out Commonwealth’s share the following summer. Dodson leased the Kanopolis to Thomas Miller in 1960, and that’s where my magazine trail goes cold.
Blazinga passed away in 1994, and Pacey took over. The Kanopolis closed after the 2006 season (not sure why), and stayed dark until the Webbs bought the drive-in and reopened it in 2011. As described in the above video (from KWCH, Wichita’s News Leader), a windstorm damaged the screen and other equipment in December 2021. The drive-in stayed dark for another year, then reopened again in 2023.
The Independent-Reporter article said that the Webbs would be helping out this season to make sure the Moyers learn the ropes. I’m always happy to hear stories like this about new, appreciative caretakers who are maintaining the drive-in tradition for new generations.