June 17: Chilton Twilight Drive-In Theater, Chilton WI

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Drive-In screen seen across a paved parking lot

Photo from the Twilight Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 168 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It’s always great to have a short drive, and this one took less than an hour, from the Field of Scenes in Freedom WI south to the Chilton Twilight Drive-In Theater in Chilton.

There are plenty of examples of former drive-ins getting turned into Walmarts. (I can think of at least one in Colorado.) The Twilight is a rare (unique?) example of a former Walmart getting repurposed as a drive-in theater. Wisconsin Drive-In Theaters reported that it opened in August 2011, with a more formal Grand Opening the following May. The Twilight uses part of the former Walmart building for its the concession stand, and the parking lot is the new viewing field.

A 2016 article in the Appleton Post-Crescent wrote that Mike Radue, co-owner of the Twilight, upgraded to digital projection in 2015. He said that it sells out most June and July weekends. The appeal is obvious. “It’s just a cool experience, and there aren’t that many of them around,” Radue said.

The Twilight is open Wednesdays through Sundays during the Summer. They bake their own pizzas and send a text when yours is ready.

Just like the Saturday before, I got to see Captain Underpants. I loved the books when I was reading them with my kid, and the movie was better than I expected.

Miles Today / Total:  31 / 21816 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Captain Underpants / 84

Nearby Restaurant: One of the advantages of a short drive is that it leaves me time to have lunch at a local coffee shop such as Terra Verde Coffee. Not only do they have the coffee and pastries I need on a daily basis, they had some nice sandwiches. I picked the Turk, a turkey sandwich with cranberry walnut relish. It was like Thanksgiving between two slices of bread!

Where I Virtually Stayed: If you’re going to stay overnight in Chilton, you’ll want to stay at the Best Western Stanton Inn just a block away from the Twilight. My room had a microwave, mini-fridge, and strong wifi. There was a nice hot tub inside and a dedicated path to the McDonalds next door outside, but the breakfast buffet was so thorough that I wasn’t tempted to walk over.

Only in Chilton: You think Wisconsin, you think cheese. You think Chilton, you should think Vern’s Cheese Store. Vern and Edith Knoespel established Knoespel Distributing on March 1, 1964. Since no one could pronounce Knoespel, they changed the name in 1965 to Vern’s Cheese Company. They had one truck, rented cooler space, and ran the wholesale business out of their home. In 1967 they purchased a small warehouse in rural Chilton, and the company has been growing ever since.

Next stop: Starlite 14 Drive In, Richland Center WI.

June 16: Field of Scenes, Freedom WI

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It’s Day 167 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I back down Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, circled Green Bay, and continued southwest to the Field of Scenes in Freedom WI. The drive took less than two hours.

Tim and Brenda VandeWettering built the Field of Scenes from the ground up, surrounded by farmland, in 2003. The drive-in switched to digital projection in 2014 and added a second screen just last year. According to the Field of Scenes About Us page, their pictured but unnamed(!) children are taking over operations beginning this summer. (Don’t worry, a story last year in the Appleton Post-Crescent identified them as Taylor VandeWettering and his sister Brittni LeNoble.)

I included a 2013 report from WLUK, Green Bay’s News Leader, which had the questionable idea of doing a live morning-show remote of this drive-in theater. (A recorded segment from the night before would have looked much better!) Owner Tim was game, hauling out a wide sampling of concession stand treats, as you can see in the YouTube video above.

Mini-golf returned this summer, and there are a couple of hoops for patrons who bring their own basketballs. Or you can kill time before the movie the way I did, at the adjacent Fieldhouse Sports Bar.

Cars 3 is a perfect, family-friendly film to show at a drive-in. The original Cars, which features a drive-in at the end, was the last movie I saw at the Cinderella Twin, which was the closest drive-in to Carload World Headquarters in Denver. I wonder how many times I’ll be seeing it again over the next couple of weeks.

Miles Today / Total:  93 / 21785 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Cars 3 / 83

Nearby Restaurant: I took advantage of the Friday night fish fry and grand buffet at the Colonial House Supper Club. There were frog legs (yes, I know, technically not a fish) and perch and crab-stuffed mushrooms and so much more. I even ate some vegetables first so I could feel self-righteously healthy as I plowed through all the meats.

Where I Virtually Stayed: As Kris Kristofferson almost put it, Freedom’s just another word for nowhere left to stay. With no hotels in town, I drove nine miles to Kimberly for my first Hilton Garden Inn in a while. The price was particularly nice for an HGI, the amenities were their typically comfortable standard, and breakfast was free for me as a Hilton Gold member. Woohoo!

Only in Freedom: Just eight miles south of the Field of Scenes, you’ll find the authentic Dutch Little Chute Windmill. Authentic as in, it was built in the Netherlands from an 1850s design, then disassembled and shipped to its new home in Little Chute WI. A local nonprofit operates the windmill “as a tribute to Midwest’s Dutch heritage”.

Next stop: Chilton Twilight Drive-In Theater, Chilton WI.

June 15: Skyway Drive-In Theatre, Fish Creek WI

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It’s Day 166 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I took my first-ever trip up Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, having driven from Shawano through Green Bay to the Skyway Drive-In Theatre northwest of Fish Creek and right across the highway from Peninsula State Park. The drive took less that two hours.

The Door County Pulse wrote that the Skyway first opened in July 1950, owned by Orville and Elton Voeks. (Elton sold his share to Orville in 1955.) According to the Pulse, “The screen was 46 x 50, the same as today. The Voeks showed foresight in building the screen to face the south, so a late-setting sun wouldn’t hit it. … The orange, yellow and pink marquee they built is still in use.”

Orville sold the Skway to Darrell “Wild Bill” and Eileen Jacobson in 1981. Their kids, Jeffrey and Dale Jacobson, took over in 1999.

The Skyway’s got a great history page on its web site. The site says that in times past, “prior to the movie, Orville or (Darrell) would drive up and down the rows in a 1955 Chevy, which was designed to release a mosquito-repelling fog.” That must have been a sight!

Speaking of old sights, I’ve embedded a 10-year-old YouTube video of a Door County “Explore the Door” travel show that celebrated the Skyway. The projector has changed, (digital was installed in 2013), but most of it’s still the same.

Honestly, Wonder Woman makes a very good movie to see at the drive-in. This marked the fifth time I’ve seen it in 10 days, including the second night in a row. That’s more than I would recommend.

Miles Today / Total:  105 / 21692 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Wonder Woman / 82

Nearby Restaurant: The White Gull Inn‘s cherry-stuffed French toast was a finalist in Good Morning America‘s Best Breakfast competition, so I was really glad the place also served breakfast at lunch. I had a half-order with some meat, because that really is a lot of French toast. Great stuff!

Where I Virtually Stayed: There’s a nice little place called Julie’s Park Cafe & Motel right across the street from the entrance to Peninsula State Park. There was good wifi and a fridge in my room.

Only in Fish Creek: Just six miles up Highway 42 from the Skyway is Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant, which has goats on its roof. It felt like deja vu because a few months ago I visited a place in Georgia called Goats on the Roof. Al Johnson’s doesn’t include them in the title, but you can watch them live on his Goat Cam.

Next stop: Field of Scenes, Freedom WI.