Here’s a different kind of good news. The Kanopolis Drive In Theatre had to shut down late last season when its digital projector bit the big one. But after an off-season of various fundraisers, the owners have announced on their Facebook page that they will be reopening April 3 for the 2026 season, featuring a new 4k laser projector.
I have so many reasons to love the Kanopolis. It’s a tiny drive-in in a tinier town, but its owners have spent a lot of effort and resources into making the place nice. And their Facebook page is currently my favorite drive-in page, not afraid to be quirky and fun. It’s nice to see that KWCH, Wichita’s News Leader, joined in with a report about the good news while including a video from last year that documented the original problem.
I searched for 4K laser projectors, and the ones I found look a lot less expensive than the huge digital projection that failed last year. But for the little Kanopolis, it’s probably an intelligent solution for getting going again. Congratulations!
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.
Here’s more good news from the continuing saga of the Starlite Drive-In Theatre in Wichita KS. Owner Blake Smith, who also owns the Admiral Twin Drive-In in Tulsa OK, received an extension on the loan that the city of Wichita gave him to buy the Starlite’s digital projectors. The full story is available, with a bit of video that I can’t embed here, at KWCH, Wichita’s News Leader.
The Starlite began its life as the single-screen Rainbow in 1953. The drive-in underwent extensive renovation in 1974, including a large new projection and concession building and a second screen, and became the Landmark Twin. In the intervening years, the name morphed into the Landmark Starlite and then to just the Starlite that it is today.
The struggles began in 2016. After longtime owner Jim Goble passed away, Chuck Bucinski bought the Starlite, but soon began saying the drive-in was in financial trouble. In the summer of 2018, he pursuaded Wichita to change the Starlite’s zoning to allow for industrial uses, “strictly for estate-planning purposes”, but announced its permanent closure in October that year. The community rallied, and Smith was able to buy the drive-in to keep it running.
The Starlite did well in 2019. Smith said he was considering selling season passes for 2020. Uh oh. The Covid pandemic tamped down the Starlite’s business that summer, and audiences have been slow to return in the years since.
Part of the package deal that Smith got in 2018 was a loan from the city to buy new digital projectors to replace the pair that were no longer there after Bucinski’s departure. That $200,000 was a heavy burden considering the covid-initiated drop in attendance. From KWCH’s report, the city council was delighted to help keep the Starlite open, extending the loan till 2031. It’s always nice when local officials recognize a drive-in’s value to the community.
