Category Archives: Video

Video: Tri-Way Pleads For Support

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WNDU, South Bend IN’s News Leader, ran a story Saturday about the Tri-Way Drive-In Theatre in Plymouth. When it switched to digital projectors in 2015, the cost was about $300,000 to cover its four screens. Some of that came from fundraisers, and now owner David Kinney has a bit over two years left to pay back the $150,000 the Tri-Way still owes.

A couple of weeks ago, the Tri-Way was one of a small group of drive-ins that publicly declined to show Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 because Disney wanted a higher percentage of the ticket price.

Anyway, the story just shows Kinney encouraging folks to visit and buy something from the concession stand to help support the Tri-Way. But we enjoy almost any excuse to include more drive-in video on Carload, so there it is. Enjoy!

May 13: Blue Fox Drive-In Theatre, Oak Harbor WA

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zmu1vqXdtM

It’s Day 133 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Oak Harbor WA is only about 13 miles from what was my starting point, Port Townsend, but a lot of that is water. So I took a ferry for the first time this year to Whidbey Island, home of the Blue Fox Drive-In Theatre. The total travel time was almost an hour and a half.

According to an obituary in the Whidbey News-Times, the Blue Fox was built in 1959 by Woodrow “Woody” Cecil and his wife Charlotte. Another article said Woody “partnered with George Dickson” to build it.

A 2006 article said Darrell and Lori Bratt purchased the theater in 1988. In 1990, it switched to FM sound. The screen went down in a 1998 windstorm, but obviously they fixed that.

In 2012, they turned to the community to help raise money for a digital projector. With that success, the projector was installed in time to start the 2013 season.

The Blue Fox also has a go-cart track (video here), and about a year ago in April 2016, they replaced the old tires that lined the edges. To get rid of the tires, they held a tire giveaway. Kelsey Bratt, daughter-in-law of owner Darrell Bratt, told the Whidbey News-Times, “Who doesn’t want a tire swing in the backyard?”

The Blue Fox is just a fun place to be. It’s got an arcade and those go-carts in addition to the classic drive-in experience. On the screen, they showed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as the second feature so I got to watch something new early – Born In China. And after I ordered my pizza, they gave me a pager shaped like a pizza slice so I’d know when to pick it up. It was busy, and a bit chilly, but it was a great way to spend a Saturday night.

Miles Today / Total:  23 / 14569 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Born In China / 60

Nearby Restaurant: Tamayo’s, just a block away from Flintstone Park (see below), is one of those Thai Asian fusion restaurants. I don’t know what to call it, but I sure enjoyed lunch there. There was pho, there were spring rolls, and the soup was amazing.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Best Western Plus Oak Harbor is a nice place not too far from downtown and the bayside parks. There were cookies in the evening, a nice room with good wifi and a fridge, and an amazing array of choices for breakfast with sausage, bacon, and eggs along with fruit and the usual continental breakfast suspects.

Only in Oak Harbor: There’s a little park on the bay called Flintstone Park. So of course they had to add a concrete replica of Fred Flintstone’s stone-age car. Just in case you ever wanted to get your picture taken while pretending to be Fred or Wilma.

Next stop: Twilight Drive-In Theatre, Langley BC.

May 8: Milton-Freewater Drive-In Theater, Milton-Freewater OR

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It’s Day 128 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. The fastest way to get from La Grande OR to Milton-Freewater wasn’t the shortest way, but an hour and a half later I arrived at the Milton-Freewater Drive-In Theater.

I was fortunate to find another drive-in video profile, this time for the M-F. (It’s sometimes called the Milton-Freewater, sometimes the M-F, and I’ve got to admit that three characters are a lot easier to type.)

The M-F was built in 1953 and was bought by the Spiess family in 1961. Big bills came in a cluster about 50 years later. The M-F sustained terrible damage (as seen here) during a windstorm in January 2008. “That was the first year we were in charge of day-to-day operations after my parents semi-retired from running it,” Mike Spiess told Ruralite. In 2011, Oregon drinking water laws required them to drill a new well, and they bought a digital projector in 2013.

In 2014, at that time of the Ruralite article, Mike and his wife Lorie owned the M-F and also held down day jobs. “The drive-in is our family hobby,” he said.

The M-F is open Fridays through Sundays this time of year, so I was on my own on a Monday night.

Miles Today / Total:  77 / 14051 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 59

Nearby Restaurant: I’m glad I got to Wee bit O’Heathers in time for lunch. They serve the kind of thin hash browns that mix well with other vegetables, and the cinnamon rolls were amazing. It was kind of crowded, but you know that’s always a good sign for a small-town restaurant.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There are some chain hotels across the border in Walla Walla WA, but I wanted to stay in town and same money, so I spent the night at the Out West Motel. Clean, if not fancy, with a fridge and a coffee maker in my room. Sometimes that’s all I need.

Only in Milton-Freewater: There aren’t that many cities with hyphenated names, although there are plenty of newspapers with hyphenated names. In Milton-Freewater’s case, the reason was the same as it typically was for newspapers – a merger. In 1951, the neighboring rival cities of Milton and Freewater voted to merge.

Next stop: 99W Drive-in, Newberg OR.