I couldn't let my mom sell our family's drive-in theater, so I took over. Now I work with Universal, Warner Brothers, and Paramount to bring hit movies to the cornfields of Idaho.

The drive-in was built by my grandfather in 1953 and my parents took over in 1976. I'm new to the scene, but I'm the third generation owner-operator.

I was born in Idaho and raised in Parma. I was involved in the theater businesses as a child. My parents owned a couple of drive-ins. You don't realize how special our drive-in is when you're younger.

I was in the Cleanup crew when I was 10 years old. I didn't go to the drive-in as a teenager because I was working at the indoor theater. After graduating from college, I moved out of state for over two decades. I switched to sales because I wanted to work for myself.

When I was younger I never imagined I'd run my family's drive-in theater one day — but I couldn't let my mom sell it

The drive-in was the last of the indoor theaters my parents owned. I never thought that I would be the one running it.

My mom told me that she was thinking of selling the drive-in when I was at home in 2000. "You can't sell this place, it's our legacy," I said. She asked if he would come back and run it. I agreed without hesitation. The theater is part of our family.

After 10 years, she realized I was serious about taking over.

There is a couple of acres. During the first weekend of a new movie release, we usually hit around 300 on a Friday and Saturday night.

Courtesy of Susan Haaheim

When the film industry changed to digital only, we had to make drastic changes to the business 

The major film studios told us in 2012 that they were going to stop making 35 millimeter film and that all theaters would have to switch to digital.

The studios gave my mom a couple years to make the change, but she initially thought it would be too expensive. We would have to pay for a digital projector and computer server, and the projection booth, which is in an older building, would need to stay at a certain temperature to protect the equipment, meaning a heat pump for winter.

Courtesy of Susan Haaheim

After a year, theaters all over the country made the change and so more companies began selling digital equipment, which drove prices down.

My mom got a bank loan and raised the admission price by a dollar to make up for the lost revenue. She paid off the loan within a few years.

What's great about the digital switch nationwide is that we get the new movies right when they're released

There was a time when a drive-in in Parma, Idaho wouldn't get a film until it was older. It's worth it because people want to see a movie when it's new, so we get a crowd.

People think that bringing new movies to the screen is easy. We have play-date agreements with each of the major studios, but some people think we just pop in a DVD. We only have one 60-foot screen, so I have to be very careful about what we play, and choose the ones I think will bring the biggest crowd, which can be hard.

I keep in touch with the studios and put out a calendar. I watch previews, look at reviews, and ask my friends and family which films they think will appeal to the most people. I always go with the family-friendly film if it comes down to that.

If there is a big movie coming out, we can pre-screen. Paramount unlocked the digital print for us to pre-screen the night before the opening of Top Gun, which was a lot of fun. When you work at a theater, you end up seeing the same scene night after night, so you don't get to see a lot of movies in their entirety.

The challenges aren't that different from other businesses

There are always fixes for our drive-in. We have to plan on anything malfunctioning or breaking down, and just roll with it.

Courtesy of Susan Haaheim

We only run on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights when we are away. The freezer could go down or the coke machines could leak. Scheduling repairs can be difficult because we are only open during the night.

I want the grounds to look nice. We are located near cornfields, there are a lot of weeds, and the wind takes a toll on the fence. It is a different type of upkeep.

The weather is the most important factor in determining turnout. Many people like to sit in the back of their pickup to watch a movie. Customers used to tow a trailer into the drive-in so they could watch a movie on the sofa. That was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

The drive-in really brings the community together. People love to dress up for their favorites

I've seen the original Grease and Footloose in the last 3 years. A group of people dressed up in costumes come out to watch a movie.

Courtesy of Michelle Heart, Townsquare Media

A couple of years ago, on Halloween, we played the original " Halloween " movie, and someone dressed up as Michael Myers scared a few customers and my girls worked at the snack bar. Customers like to have fun.

We let a number of high schools use our lot for their graduations during COVID. They played videos of the kids walking across the stage and the families cheered for their students.

We don't know what the future holds, but we plan to stay in business for decades to come

At one point there were over 4,000 drive-ins in the US. The theaters were located in areas where the property values had gone up and the space just needed to be something else.

I don't think growth will hit us for a long time. We are a small community with only 2,000 people. Customers come from all over when we play a new film.

We are going to stay open and do what we are doing for a long time. The drive-in experience is family friendly, you can bring your dog, and people love to watch movies under the stars. People who went to a drive-in in the 50s and 60s want to relive that time.

After everyone's settled in, I feel like I'm on a warm, busy night. I see a big beautiful picture on the screen when the kids wave at me, I can hear their laughter and the movie is playing on the radio. An amazing atmosphere is what it is.