The Spud keeps on rolling

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I Love the Spud T-shirtThe Jackson Hole (WY) News & Guide published an article about the continuing fundraising efforts of The Spud Drive-In, across the border in Driggs ID. The first four paragraphs provide a great glimpse of what it’s like to visit a drive-in with your friends when it’s cold outside. And there are two exceptionally nice photos above the fold; one shows a grid of LP records on the ceiling of the snack bar, and the other shows the projector shooting its beam through falling snow. This is one you really need to go read!

If you’ve got a long memory or have exhausted the posts here, you might recognize The Spud as one of the first subjects of the Carload blog. The News & Guide article updates its status. T-shirt sales have raised about $15,000 toward the cost of digital projection, and now Tyler Hammond, one of the operators of The Spud, is hoping to sell enough advertising on its corrugated tin privacy fence to make up the difference.

The News & Guide is very encouraging. “Spud supporters are plentiful in Teton Valley. Residents use it as a landmark when giving directions, as in, ‘If you pass the Spud you’ve gone too far.’ It’s a spot for first dates, family bonding and birthday celebrations. For most of the past 60 years it was the only movie theater for miles. The Spud is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites and the Idaho State Historic Registry.” Let’s all hope for the best!

Watch the Cottage View sign lovingly dismantled

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Oh, how I wish I could embed the really great video that the South Washington County (MN) Bulletin includes in its story of work crews dismantling the Cottage View Drive-In sign. Along with the projection equipment and the drive-in screen, the sign will be transported to Little Log House Pioneer Village in Hastings, where it will be restored and displayed.

According to the article, “Passersby on Highway 61 honked in solidarity of the beloved drive-in and little by little cars parked along East Point Douglas Road to watch the sign that had stood for more than 50 years come down.” There’s a lot more to read, and of course, you’ve just got to see that video, so go check it out!

Motel going up next to Vermont’s Sunset?

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Sunset Drive-In marqueeSeven Days, Vermont’s independent voice, ran a good long article about the Handy family of that state. About halfway through, the article focuses on Peter Handy, owner of the Sunset Drive-In of Colchester, and we get to learn a lot about him.

Handy lives in a house adjacent to the drive-in he’s owned for over 30 years. His parents bought the Sunset in 1948 and ran it for over 30 years before handing it over. Handy started working there when he was 8 years old, tending the carbon arc lamps that lit the projector.

The most surprising paragraph of the article comes near the end of Peter Handy’s section. “Peter Handy’s nostalgia for the good old days of drive-in theaters is evident in his latest business enterprise: a 12-room motel under construction next to the drive-in. Intended to serve drive-in aficionados, he says the Starlight Inn is so named as ‘a tribute to all the drive-in theaters we lost since their heyday.’” That would put it in the company of the Monte Vista CO’s Movie Manor, which faces the Star Drive-In there.

There are more fun stories about Peter Handy, including the time he sort of foiled a hold-up attempt, and there’s a Sunset box office photo, so go read it!