Ray Boutin thought they would be able to take a year off from operating the Prairie Dog Drive-In, but instead a global pandemic resulted in their busiest summer yet!
Ray and his wife have owned the property for 27 years, but the Prairie Dog Drive-In celebrates 40 years of entertaining the Carlyle area this year. The theatre opened up for the 2020 season on May 15th just in time for the May long weekend, showing the animated film Trolls World Tour. However, movies are only one of the many types of content the Drive-In will show this summer.
The Drive-In’s most-attended event so far this season has been a celebration of life for Joe Fox from Manor. He passed away on May 20th at the age of 66. The Prairie Dog Drive-In held a slideshow and eulogy for Joe on the evening of June 4th that was also followed by a Cheers and Toast. Ray explained that Joe’s celebration attracted more attendees than the Garth Brooks concert that played a few weeks later.
Another event the Drive-In hosted was the 2020 Graduation ceremony for the students of Gordon F. Kells High School in Carlyle. Emily Bouchard organized the event. Dean Zacharias, a teacher at the school, created a 2-hour video that played on the big screen which contained various videos from different events sent in by the graduates.
The Drive-In has also been participating in Encore Drive-In Nights, where one-night-only concerts are shown at Drive-Ins across North America. A pre-recorded Garth Brooks concert was the first one to appear at the Prairie Dog Drive-In on June 27th, followed by Blake Shelton with special guests Gwen Stefani and Trace Adkins on July 25th!
Congratulations to the Prairie Dog Drive-In on a great start to its 40th anniversary season. We can’t wait to see how the rest of the summer goes, and you can stay up to date with all of their events by following their Facebook page.