Moviegoers flock to Luverne screen
By Bret Hayworth, Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, August 02, 2003
The Verne Drive-In in Luverne, Minn., draws patrons from a three-state area and shows first-run movie features. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
LUVERNE, Minn. -- The ability to spread out in a car and view a movie with family, friends or a date is a rarity, but there is a drive-in movie theater used by Northwest Iowans.
There are only three drive-ins left in Iowa and the nearest to Sioux City is across the border in southern Minnesota, although it draws strongly from Lyon County and elsewhere in Siouxland. And that theater in Luverne is even more of a rarity -- it is only 3 years old, not an aging facility hanging on in the face of a dwindling drive-in trend.
According to Home & Away magazine, the three Iowa drive-ins are in Council Bluffs, Newton and Maquoketa. Sioux City had two as late as 1980 and, since the mid-1990s, two of the last holdout drive-ins in Ames and Cedar Falls closed. Throughout Iowa, one can drive by and see remnants of drive-ins in places like Estherville and rural Rockwell City. Those departed drive-ins are offset by the 433 that remain in the U.S., far fewer than the peak of 4,063 in 1958.
However, the Verne Drive-In Theater is new, as owners Glen and Julie Burmeister of Luverne joined the small trend of 20 drive-ins that have been built or reopened since 1990.
No more portable speakers to be hung on car windows, today the audio of the movies is heard on radio frequencies. Another change is the fare sold in the Verne concession stand, as no old-style grill is present for burgers. Instead cheese balls and fried foods are big sellers, and a smoothie machine -- something that would never be found in a 1950s-vintage drive-in -- processes drinks.
There is a grassy area in front of the screen and new gravel throughout. Many people don't sit in cars, but on lawn chairs brought along. All that makes for a night that can't be equaled in your basic indoor theater.
Said Glen Burmeister, "Saturday nights are always the biggest nights." On the July 11-12 weekend, with a double-feature highlighting "Finding Nemo," the Burmeisters had a first -- the lot was entirely full. So "we had to shut the gates and had to turn away people. Kids were bawling, 'I want to see Nemo.'"
Tom Meester of Rock Rapids, Iowa, has taken in a few movies at the Verne over the last two years. Speaking while watching "2 Fast, 2 Furious" with companion Jenna Heitkamp of Adrian, Minn., Meester said he prizes the cheaper evening where you get two movies for a good price, "and you can talk without having to bother people."
The movies are at dusk nightly through Labor Day, then will be shown on weekends until the weather turns too cold. The warmest nights bring out the biggest crowds, Meester said. Looking around, he said, "For a Wednesday night, it's not bad." He knows many college friends who come over from Sioux Falls, while "a lot of people from Rock Rapids come here."
Heitkamp said her parents went to the former Luverne drive-in: "It was nice when they were younger." She was a drive-in returnee, having first gone there for an early-season after-prom event.
When the drive-in first opened, Burmeister found that three-fourths of the attendees came from Sioux Falls. But that has broadened now to where half the crowd is made up of Minnesota and Iowa patrons. Burmeister mentioned customers havecome from as far south in Iowa as Magnolia, as well as many from Sioux City, Le Mars, Sheldon, Larchwood, Sibley and Spencer. "There is a guy who brings his mother from George (Iowa) every week," Burmeister said. "She is 89 years old. They come every week. She saw 'The Hulk' twice."
The film subject matter isn't the naughty fare that many drive-ins showed 25 years ago.
"In the old days," Burmeister said, "I think drive-ins played mostly B-movies, the ones that didn't make other theaters." The Verne has run seven movies this year on the national opening weekends. Having first-run double features pays dividends, he said. "We still get our best crowds when we have the real good kid movies," Burmeister said. "I just got a card from a lady the other day, thanking me for having decent movies."
Burmeister said he is proud of offering a good bang for the buck. Prices are $5 for adults, but kids under 11 get in free. Thus, there is a lot of patronage from young families, he said, since parents know their young children won't sit still in a theater and attending a drive-in spares the cost of a sitter. "The kids are in their pajamas and probably fall asleep by the second movie," he said.
Some area class reunions have come en masse to the drive-in, and hospitals and other businesses have come together for a twist to the summer company picnic. On the sell-out night, Burmeister figures there were 400 cars in the place. The record for ticket sales came in 2002 with 830 adults attending the "Planet of the Apes" remake.
Those sorts of numbers show Burmeister he did the right thing, although the trend is against drive-ins. Burmeister said the expansive property of drive-ins is eyed by developers.
"Drive-ins always had large tracts of land near cities and a lot of them are Wal-Marts now," he said.
The former Luverne theater had its demise in 1990. In early 2000, Burmeister bought it, ripped down everything but the screen and built anew. Movies have been shown since July 2000.
"There was a whole generation that didn't get to experience a drive-in and I wanted to have it back for them," Burmeister said. "When I was a kid in high school, this was where everybody went."
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712)293-4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com.
There are only three drive-ins left in Iowa and the nearest to Sioux City is across the border in southern Minnesota, although it draws strongly from Lyon County and elsewhere in Siouxland. And that theater in Luverne is even more of a rarity -- it is only 3 years old, not an aging facility hanging on in the face of a dwindling drive-in trend.
According to Home & Away magazine, the three Iowa drive-ins are in Council Bluffs, Newton and Maquoketa. Sioux City had two as late as 1980 and, since the mid-1990s, two of the last holdout drive-ins in Ames and Cedar Falls closed. Throughout Iowa, one can drive by and see remnants of drive-ins in places like Estherville and rural Rockwell City. Those departed drive-ins are offset by the 433 that remain in the U.S., far fewer than the peak of 4,063 in 1958.
However, the Verne Drive-In Theater is new, as owners Glen and Julie Burmeister of Luverne joined the small trend of 20 drive-ins that have been built or reopened since 1990.
No more portable speakers to be hung on car windows, today the audio of the movies is heard on radio frequencies. Another change is the fare sold in the Verne concession stand, as no old-style grill is present for burgers. Instead cheese balls and fried foods are big sellers, and a smoothie machine -- something that would never be found in a 1950s-vintage drive-in -- processes drinks.
There is a grassy area in front of the screen and new gravel throughout. Many people don't sit in cars, but on lawn chairs brought along. All that makes for a night that can't be equaled in your basic indoor theater.
Said Glen Burmeister, "Saturday nights are always the biggest nights." On the July 11-12 weekend, with a double-feature highlighting "Finding Nemo," the Burmeisters had a first -- the lot was entirely full. So "we had to shut the gates and had to turn away people. Kids were bawling, 'I want to see Nemo.'"
Tom Meester of Rock Rapids, Iowa, has taken in a few movies at the Verne over the last two years. Speaking while watching "2 Fast, 2 Furious" with companion Jenna Heitkamp of Adrian, Minn., Meester said he prizes the cheaper evening where you get two movies for a good price, "and you can talk without having to bother people."
The movies are at dusk nightly through Labor Day, then will be shown on weekends until the weather turns too cold. The warmest nights bring out the biggest crowds, Meester said. Looking around, he said, "For a Wednesday night, it's not bad." He knows many college friends who come over from Sioux Falls, while "a lot of people from Rock Rapids come here."
Heitkamp said her parents went to the former Luverne drive-in: "It was nice when they were younger." She was a drive-in returnee, having first gone there for an early-season after-prom event.
When the drive-in first opened, Burmeister found that three-fourths of the attendees came from Sioux Falls. But that has broadened now to where half the crowd is made up of Minnesota and Iowa patrons. Burmeister mentioned customers havecome from as far south in Iowa as Magnolia, as well as many from Sioux City, Le Mars, Sheldon, Larchwood, Sibley and Spencer. "There is a guy who brings his mother from George (Iowa) every week," Burmeister said. "She is 89 years old. They come every week. She saw 'The Hulk' twice."
The film subject matter isn't the naughty fare that many drive-ins showed 25 years ago.
"In the old days," Burmeister said, "I think drive-ins played mostly B-movies, the ones that didn't make other theaters." The Verne has run seven movies this year on the national opening weekends. Having first-run double features pays dividends, he said. "We still get our best crowds when we have the real good kid movies," Burmeister said. "I just got a card from a lady the other day, thanking me for having decent movies."
Burmeister said he is proud of offering a good bang for the buck. Prices are $5 for adults, but kids under 11 get in free. Thus, there is a lot of patronage from young families, he said, since parents know their young children won't sit still in a theater and attending a drive-in spares the cost of a sitter. "The kids are in their pajamas and probably fall asleep by the second movie," he said.
Some area class reunions have come en masse to the drive-in, and hospitals and other businesses have come together for a twist to the summer company picnic. On the sell-out night, Burmeister figures there were 400 cars in the place. The record for ticket sales came in 2002 with 830 adults attending the "Planet of the Apes" remake.
Those sorts of numbers show Burmeister he did the right thing, although the trend is against drive-ins. Burmeister said the expansive property of drive-ins is eyed by developers.
"Drive-ins always had large tracts of land near cities and a lot of them are Wal-Marts now," he said.
The former Luverne theater had its demise in 1990. In early 2000, Burmeister bought it, ripped down everything but the screen and built anew. Movies have been shown since July 2000.
"There was a whole generation that didn't get to experience a drive-in and I wanted to have it back for them," Burmeister said. "When I was a kid in high school, this was where everybody went."
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712)293-4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com.
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