Mike & Amy Sill recently posted on the theater’s Facebook page that the city of Medicine Lodge is purchasing the property with plans to reopen the Pageant Drive In either later in 2023 or by 2024.
The Stadium Drive In operated in the summer of 1986 and then closed permanently. The only exception was the showing of ‘Top Gun’ in April 1987 for “Ranger Night At The Drive In”, the last of a bi-annual event held for students of Northwestern Oklahoma State University. After this the theater never operated again.
The address 105 E. Oklahoma Boulevard is actually where the drive in was originally located. It moved to the southeast of this location to a site approx ½ mile south of the intersection of US highways 281 & 64. Around 2012 a steel scrapping company bought the property and initially cleaned it up so that the projection/concession building was visible for the first time since the mid 1990s. They eventually tore the screen tower down,
unfortunately. The business is now closed and the property once again abandoned.
825 SW Highway 54 is the actual address. The owners made the decision to close the theater when their digital projector was going to have to be replaced. The associated RV park remains open.
Circle Theater closed in the fall of 1981. It reopened for a few weeks during the summer in 1982, some of the movies featured were Porky’s, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn, Grease 2 and The Cat People. It then closed permanently with the exception of a free single showing of the film Tex at Christmas. In Jan 1983 projection & sound equipment was removed. For the next 15 years the auditorium was used as a community live theater and for the annual Miss Waynoka pageant. In the late 1990s the building was remodeled and became a Duckwalls retail store. It closed in 2010. The store reopened in 2011 as Mike’s Variety which has since gone through several name changes under the same owner. As of April 2020 it is still in business although a “store closing” sign is displayed in the window.
The building currently houses Zooks Veterinary Clinic and the next door cafe is also reopened.
Mike & Amy Sill recently posted on the theater’s Facebook page that the city of Medicine Lodge is purchasing the property with plans to reopen the Pageant Drive In either later in 2023 or by 2024.
The Stadium Drive In operated in the summer of 1986 and then closed permanently. The only exception was the showing of ‘Top Gun’ in April 1987 for “Ranger Night At The Drive In”, the last of a bi-annual event held for students of Northwestern Oklahoma State University. After this the theater never operated again.
The address 105 E. Oklahoma Boulevard is actually where the drive in was originally located. It moved to the southeast of this location to a site approx ½ mile south of the intersection of US highways 281 & 64. Around 2012 a steel scrapping company bought the property and initially cleaned it up so that the projection/concession building was visible for the first time since the mid 1990s. They eventually tore the screen tower down, unfortunately. The business is now closed and the property once again abandoned.
825 SW Highway 54 is the actual address. The owners made the decision to close the theater when their digital projector was going to have to be replaced. The associated RV park remains open.
Circle Theater closed in the fall of 1981. It reopened for a few weeks during the summer in 1982, some of the movies featured were Porky’s, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn, Grease 2 and The Cat People. It then closed permanently with the exception of a free single showing of the film Tex at Christmas. In Jan 1983 projection & sound equipment was removed. For the next 15 years the auditorium was used as a community live theater and for the annual Miss Waynoka pageant. In the late 1990s the building was remodeled and became a Duckwalls retail store. It closed in 2010. The store reopened in 2011 as Mike’s Variety which has since gone through several name changes under the same owner. As of April 2020 it is still in business although a “store closing” sign is displayed in the window.
It was still open summer of 1984. The screen tower was demolished in the 1980s.