Whitetail Drive-In

Theatre Road and 10th Street W,
Lemmon, SD 57638

380 cars

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Rainbow Drive-In

Nearby Theaters

Whitetail Drive-In

The Rainbow Drive-In opened May 2, 1952 with Jeff Chandler in “The Battle at Apache Pass”. It was operated by the owners of the town’s Rainbow Theatre (formerly the Grand Theatre) L. Kressley. From April 1955 it was operated by E. Borud. The Rainbow Drive-In was closed in 1960.

In 1968 it was reopened as the Whitetail Drive-In, and was operated by Jim Svihovec from Spearfish, SD. He operated it until 1967 when he sold the drive-in to Randy Thornsley of Sturgis, SD.

The Whitetail Drive-in was closed in 1978 after the screen tower was knocked down by a big storm.

Contributed by Randy Studer, Raven Christman

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on October 29, 2018 at 3:44 am

Is Whitetail a Native American name?

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on May 5, 2019 at 9:21 pm

When I Google “Whitetail”, the first result is deer. I’m guessing that was the inspiration for the name.

Per a note in Motion Picture Daily, Ernie Borud bought the drive-in in April 1955 along with the Kressley-owned drive-in in Mobridge SD.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on November 26, 2019 at 11:57 am

Boxoffice, March 8, 1976: “Randall Thornsley of Chugatch Entertainment Co., headquartered in Sturgis, S.D., has taken over operation of the Sundowner Drive-In, Bowman, N.D.; the Wagon Wheel Drive-In, Hettinger, N.D., and the Whitetail Drive-In, Lemmon, S.D.”

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