In Memorium: Kearney Drive-In 1950 - 2008

When I posted about that tornado warning in my take on the latest Indiana Jones flick, I mentioned gawking at the panicked and spooked mall patrons scrambling about. Yeah, I'm one of those guys who at the first hint of bad weather runs outside for my own look instead of heading to cover. Nine times out of ten, it's a "no big deal" situation, but Thursday, when I stepped outside of the mall and the change of barometric pressure hit me and sucked the air right of my lungs, and as I looked around and saw the sky was painted an unholy shade of green, I muttered a quick "Uh oh," before picking up the pace as I headed to my car. And my feeling of dread only grew worse when I tried to tune in a weather report on the radio and all of my programmed stations were off the air! The sky was rumbling and some nasty lightning was popping off to the west when I got home, just as the sirens started sounding again. Inside I went and tuned the TV to the local radar channel, confirming that a large ball of red was blossoming and bearing down on my hometown...

In the end, we got lucky as the storm slid just to the south of us. But just to the west of us, in Kearney, NE, they weren't so lucky. Thank Thor that there were no fatalities and the only injuries reported were during traffic accidents by those puttering around to take in the aftermath of the storm. Which brings me to the bad news:

Alas, part of that aftermath was the Kearney Drive-In Theater. Half the screen was obliterated during the storm, but the marquee was undamaged, which now simply reads "Gone With the Wind." Scuttlebutt for the longest time said the owner was looking for any excuse to shut it down and sell out. Scuttlebutt also said one of the main reasons they didn't was because they couldn't afford to tear down an asbestos filled screen. Now that mother nature has stepped in, the rumor mill already has an apartment complex going up on the property.

Regardless, it sounds like the old Kearney Drive-In is now gone for good, which bums me out to no end. I made it a personal goal several years ago to get over there at least once a summer, and a couple weeks ago I had a night off and called over to see what was showing. Prom Night and 21 were the double-bill, and sadly that wasn't enough to get me over there that night; thought I'd wait for something else. Which makes me doubly bummed because I blew my last chance to see an honest to god double-feature, with a "Three Stooges" short, vintage intermission footage, trailers, death-dogs and a possible dead battery when the night ended. *sigh*

So I ask you all to fly your tinny Dr'in Speakers at half mast for at least a week as we mourn the passing of one more, ever dwindling piece of Americana, and one of the last functioning Drive-In theaters in the state of Nebraska.

R.I.P.