https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q67KAci3qA

It’s Day 221 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Once again, it was a morning of two-lane highways and lots of farmland as I drove a little over an hour from Tiffin OH to the Hi-Road Drive In north of Kenton OH.

The Hi-Road held its grand opening in June 1949. It was managed, and probably owned, by Robert Hipp, who stayed in that role until at least the late 1950s. A heavy windstorm blew down the screen in January 1952, but of course they recovered. Merle Horst was managing the Hi Road in 1961, and it was open for Saturday flea markets in 1977.

After that, the history gets ever hazier for a while. A couple that was reported to own the Hi Road and nine other theaters in the area was in bankruptcy court in 1984. The drive-in’s previous listing in the Motion Picture Almanacs had vanished by the 1982 edition and for the rest of the decade. Did the place actually close? I can’t tell.

The Hi Road resurfaced in print in August 1998 when it began advertising in The Marion Star. By the next year, Rodney Miller had purchased the place and begun making overdue improvements. As he states in the above YouTube video, which was shot by Outdoor Moovies in 2004, the Hi Road had “really got run down” before he took over. One of his first steps was to spend over $5000 restoring the gorgeous marquee over the ticket booth. He added a second screen in 2011 and converted to digital projection by the end of the 2013 season.

In a Salt Magazine article from July 2017, Miller said he sees a lot of families these days. “Not only are there parents who came as kids now bringing their kids, we’ve got grandparents coming in with grandchildren,” he said. “I’ve seen cars where the parents are zonked out and the kids are still awake and watching the movie. It’s good for families with little kids. They can be a little noisy or fussy without really bothering anyone.”

In this corner of Ohio, there just aren’t enough drive-ins open all week this time of year for me to catch a movie absolutely every night. Even though the Hi Road was dark this night, I can imagine how nice the stars must look here in the middle of farmland on the way home from the show.

Miles Today / Total:  50 / 26900 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 135

Nearby Restaurant: One of the signs says Midway Restaurant, the next one over says Midway Diner. Its Facebook handle is “midwaydinerrestaurant”. And nobody explained what it’s midway between. At any event, this little place near downtown Kenton seems to be where the locals go for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I’m glad I stopped by for some serious comfort food in such a cozy setting.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There are no Hampton Inns in Kenton, nor any other big chain motel, so it’s a good thing that there’s a nice mom and pop place such as the B & J Motel. My humble little old room actually had the full set of modern amenities, including really good wifi. They didn’t have a lobby full of breakfast stuff, but at less than half the price I paid for the Hampton the night before, I had plenty of great options in town.

Only in Kenton: According to Roadside America, the Kenton Hardware Company was having problems in 1936 before western star Gene Autry gave it a contract to produce repeating cap guns. The Gene Autry cap gun became the most wanted toy in America, and the company made over 6 million of them. In his autobiography Back in the Saddle Again, Autry suggested that it was this toy that reversed an economic decline and “Saved Kenton.” Now there’s a mural in his honor facing Gene Autry Park.

Next stop: Star View Drive In Theatre, Norwalk OH.

It’s Day 220 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I returned to two-lane highways through farmland, driving a little over an hour from Mansfield OH to the Field of Dreams Drive-In Theater in Tiffin OH.

Cinema Treasures has a complete history for this Field of Dreams, which spent most of its life as the Tiffin Drive-In. The Tiffin opened in June 1949, built and owned by Brinkman & Shults Inc. and H. Horsteimer. Brinkman had opened the Defiance (OH) Drive-In the year before.

Ed Suffecool, who helped Shults build the drive-in, remembered “Howard and I had to go out and oil the ramps and driveways with used motor oil to keep the dust down.” In front of the screen there was a kids’ playground with a teeter totter, a slide and a sand box. I hope that used motor oil stayed clear of the playground.

To entice families to come early, Shults opened the Tiffin’s Fun Farm in May 1951. It featured miniature horses, deer, Shetland ponies, sheep, prairie dogs, wild ducks, rabbits, and other animals for kids to enjoy. The star of the Fun Farm was ‘Little George’, a one-ton Texas Longhorn steer. In 1963 they added a buffalo calf. The Fun Farm also featured a miniature prairie schooner with matched teams of ponies that would pull kids around the drive-in for a dime. Shults had two miniature Model Ts that could be driven around the drive-in for a quarter.

A root beer/ice cream stand was built in front of the screen tower, but the business quickly failed and was converted into a house. After the 1955 season, the screen was rebuilt and widened, and the old concession stand was replaced with a new 50×70-foot concession stand/projection booth.

After just one year with that widened screen and new concession stand, Shults sold the Tiffin in December 1956 to Leonard Mishkind, owner and president of General Theatres in Cleveland. Tiffin Drive-In Theatre Inc. was formed to operate the drive-in. In the following half-decade, the drive-in weathered the storms, real and economic, and also just weathered.

In 2010, the president of General Theatres Management and Tiffin Drive-In Theatre Inc., Norman M. Barr, told a drive-in owners’ convention that he was retiring. Rod and Donna Saunders, who had built the Field of Dreams Drive-In from scratch in Liberty Center, bought the Tiffin in April 2011. They renamed the drive-in, gave it plenty of overdue maintenance, and added a second screen.

The Saunders’ son, Denton, a Fremont Middle School special education teacher nine months of the year, runs the Tiffin drive-in throughout the summer. At the time of the purchase, they told the Toledo Blade that Denton would live on-site in that former ice cream stand.

The YouTube video of the day comes from Dead Shark Productions, and it’s an amazing time-lapse of an evening at the Field of Dreams. I especially like the patterns of clouds passing by.

Thank goodness for the Saunders’ second screen! With Screen 1 showing The Emoji Movie, I turned away to watch The Dark Tower for the first time. It’s nowhere near as bad as The Emoji Movie.

Miles Today / Total:  53 / 26850 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Dark Tower / 135

Nearby Restaurant: I’m a huge Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, so I dropped in at the MST Pub in Tiffin. Turns out that it stood for Madison Street Tavern, and I guess they didn’t want “Tavern Pub” in the name. Those folks sure know how to serve up a bacon burger with lots of pub food appetizers to boot, plus Oreo pie for dessert.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I promise that I’m not a slave to the Hampton Inn, it’s just the most attractive hotel in a lot of towns. This one had a nice indoor pool and a workout area. My room had the full set of amenities, and the breakfast was the same Hampton quality as the previous three nights.

Only in Tiffin: Tiffin was once known for its ceramic and glass products; it was home of Tiffin Glass Works from 1889 to 1980 and the American Standard Company, maker of ceramic kitchen and bath products, from 1899 to 2007. It’s still home to the Tiffin Glass Museum, where over 1000 pieces of Tiffin Glass are arranged chronologically in oak cabinets. Admission is free.

Next stop: Hi-Road Drive In, Kenton OH.