POWELL -- It's almost 9 p.m., and the summer sun has nearly set. Inside the concession stand of the American Dream drive-in in Powell, the popcorn is popping, the pickles-on-sticks are on ice, and over the 191 speaker boxes across a gravel parking lot, the strains of "Sea of Love" by the Honeydrippers crackle through the speakers.

Just past 9 p.m., a cartoon of dancing concessions lights up the screen, and for the 25 cars spread across the parking lot, the show begins.

The American Dream drive-in is the last drive-in movie theater in the state. At one time, there were more than 30 in Wyoming. In Powell, whose population is around 5,400, the drive-in is thriving, with people from as close by as Cody, Billings and Worland and from as far away as Sweden and Venezuela coming to be a part of this uniquely American tradition.

Nationwide, there are only about 420 drive-in movie theaters left. Only around 40 have been built since 1990, according to the Associated Press.

Pokey Heny and Julie Sullivan bought the American Dream drive-in in early 2004.

The theater, which was built in 1949, is the state's oldest operating drive-in. It was the first drive-in in business and is the last to survive.

A long history

Paul and Winnie McCalmon first saw a drive-in movie in the late 1940s on a trip to Kansas City. While Winnie watched the movie, Paul talked to the guys who worked at the theater. After seeing how things worked, he got back in the car and told Winnie, "Let's go home and build one," said Winnie, whose last name is now Kindler.

Kindler, who still lives in Powell next door to the theater, said they went through Denver and learned about how to make a drive-in work. They came back to Powell and began work.

Paul was from Missouri and had come to Wyoming to work in the oil fields. Winnie, now 92, has lived in Powell all her life.

The two started to build the drive-in in a hayfield next to their house. Their theater, Paul's Drive-In, opened in 1949, beating out Cody's theater by two months. The first movie they showed was on May 6, 1949. It was a double feature, "The Devil on Wheels" and "Tumbleweed Trail."

The two continued to work other jobs. They raised black Angus cattle, turkeys and chickens. Winnie ran two restaurants in Powell -- The Dutch Mill and the Coffee Cup. Paul was president of the fair board and ran a Sinclair filling station.

The theater showed a different movie almost every night, and charged 50 cents admission for adults and 9 cents for children. On a 1956 advertisement, the theater boasts "bottles warmed free for the baby," along with the admission prices.

In 1955 after the Wyoming wind blew down the screen, Paul and Winnie added a bigger screen. In front of the screen they built a playground. Paul got five Shetland ponies and offered pony rides for the kids. He built a small pond and had four little boats to tool around in. Paul even wired a speaker to the house, which is next door to the theater, so they could listen to the movies at home.

Kindler recalls how they dug out a ditch in front of the theater, so if there was a kid hiding in the trunk, trying to avoid paying admission, you'd hear the bump.

"I'd say, 'Open your trunk, and I'll sell you a ticket.' I can hold my own with anyone," Kindler said.

Donna Adamson, Winnie's daughter, was 15 when her parents started the theater. She'd fry burgers and take tickets. She'd look to the movies for her clothes and the latest fashions.

"Mom was a seamstress. She'd have to watch a show three nights in a row to draw the design of a dress and then make it," she said.

But when it came time to date, "I went to a roller skating rink," she said. It must have worked, as Adamson and her husband Mike, also from Powell, have been married 49 years.

The McCalmons ran the theater until 1967. They decided to sell it in order to travel, and Kindler smiles when she says she and Paul traveled to all 50 states.

From 1967 to 1975, Norman Bentz owned the theater. In 1975, Allen Mercer of Powell leased it. He later bought it.

His parents ran the drive-in in Basin until the '80s. Mercer had learned the skills of drive-ins from them. He renamed the one in Powell the Vali Drive-In.

"I loved the drive-ins when I was younger," he said. He still runs the downtown theater in Powell.

Mercer figures a lot of things contributed to the demise of drive-ins across Wyoming. "For lots of drive-ins, the land got too valuable," he said.

He also noted that Wyoming's geography didn't help.

"Daylight-saving time didn't help drive-ins. The movie didn't start 'til 9-9:30 p.m. That killed the drive-in in the northern part of the country."

But he knows why the drive-in is such a novelty.

"It's the love of the automobile. You got to use your car with entertainment. You got your own world in your car. It was freedom," he said.

Making it work

Julie Sullivan is a self-admitted movie nut. Pokey Heny just plain loves the drive-in.

They bought the Vali Drive-In from Allen Mercer in January 2004. Soon after they got to work renovating the theater. The theater still boasts the original 1949 speakers and projector, although now movie watchers can listen to the movie through an FM frequency.

They remodeled and painted the concession stand. The snack counter was replaced, the old grill removed. Julie worked on hand-painting an American flag on the side of the building.

In April 2004, prom night in Powell, the newly named American Dream drive-in opened.

They had brainstormed a list of names and decided on American Dream. "Isn't it everyone's dream to have their own business -- to own a drive-in?" Heny said.

They knew that running a drive-in, especially in a DVD-driven culture, would be a difficult venture.

"We wanted to keep it here. We know we're not going to make a ton," Heny said.

Sullivan agrees. "This is not going to be our fortune bucket. But we're not interested in making the family fortune. We're interested in family."

They pick mostly family-oriented films, rarely showing anything above PG-13. "We don't want people driving by and seeing a head get cut off," Heny said.

In the spirit of families, Sunday is family carload night. A carload can see a movie for $10. On Monday nights, young adult night, again a carload is $10. The regular admission price is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and students.

"We've had a beet truck come in, a four-wheeler, vanloads of people," Heny said.

Sullivan moved to Wyoming from Indiana five years ago. Heny has lived in Powell most all her life.

Heny lives directly across the street from the drive-in. When she and her husband Scott built their house 10 years ago, Heny told her husband, "We are building this so I can watch the drive-in." She can see the screen out her dining room window.

He didn't mind. She and her husband had their first date at the drive-in in 1978. They saw the movie "Grease."

Sullivan picks the movies and runs the projector along with her sons, Patrick and Kyle. Mercer trained them and helps if anything goes wrong. Each week, Sullivan splices together the film for the week. "Lord of the Rings" was 3 miles of film, she said.

Heny's domain is the concession stand.

"I'm like, where's the VCR?" she says of the complicated projector.

Their season lasts until October. On a typical night people bring lawn chairs, blankets, sleeping bags and spread out on the ground or in the back of pickups.

Heny and Sullivan keep dog biscuits at the counter for those who bring their furry friends.

They recounted how one man brought a bobcat with him in the back seat. Sullivan added, "He didn't want a dog biscuit."

They don't mind if people bring their own food and drink. "If it's cheaper, it's OK," Heny said.

But for those looking for a bite to eat, they offer burgers, hot dogs, cheese fries, honey butter cinnamon sugar pretzels, nachos, pickles, candy and popcorn. Also on the counter are bug-wipes to keep mosquitos away.

Sullivan and Heny have big plans for the theater. Earlier this summer they did a retro night and screened "Grease." Everyone who attended dressed up in '50s clothes. They also have high school bands play, then people can watch the movie.

They hope to soon convert the old snack bar into a VIP room that can be used for parties.

They would love to have a playground again, but with insurance costs, it seems unlikely.

People love it

Heny said people come up all the time wanting to be part of the American Dream. "If you need help, we'll do it for free. People just want to be a part of it," Heny said.

Lauren Hall, who is a college student, has worked at the theater for five seasons.

"My favorite thing is the speakers. They still have that crackly sound to it. And the food. You got to have the food," she said while grilling hamburgers.

"It's nice to see people and how excited they get for movies," she added.

Tina and Pudge Fagan love coming to the drive-in.

Tina, who originally is from Upton, said her brother took his senior picture on the drive-in sign.

"We're backwards, and we love it," Pudge said in explaining why a drive-in is thriving in a rural community.

"I raised my kids coming to the drive-in," said Linda Sparks of Cody, who is an American Dream regular.

Her two sons are both in the Army. One was wounded in Iraq, the other is heading there in a month.

"We're from Cody. We'd come over all the time. You feel like you've gone back in time. It's particular to America. It's part of American culture. It's a huge deal to go to the drive-in," she said.

When her son learned he was going to Iraq, one of the first things he said was, "There's not going to be any drive-ins there."

That's OK, said Sparks. "When they're on leave, they'll come."

Originally published here: http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/08/21/news/wyoming/38ea1fddb38bed3087257063007b1134.txt