KENO FAMILY DRIVE-IN Theatre; Pleasant Prairie (Kenosha), Wisconsin.

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DRIVE-IN’S FINAL CREDITS SET TO ROLL - Keno’s owner thinks there are better uses for the site Kenosha News, by James Lawson, Friday, March 14, 2014) PLEASANT PRAIRIE — This season will likely be the last for the Keno Drive-in, the outdoor theater’s owner said Thursday.

Steve Mills said a need for significant capital investment in the decaying property — including the replacement of obsolete projection equipment — has made it difficult for the 1940s-era icon to continue.

“Our position is one that as Kenosha grows and hopefully prospers, that some of that prospering can go down south Sheridan Road, and we believe there is another highest and best use for that site,” Mills said.

Mills, who owns about 600 acres of property in the vicinity of the drive-in site at 9102 Sheridan Road, said that highest and best use will likely involve commercial development at the corner where the drive-in is located and residential development to the south.

While the notion of a Walmart store on the drive-in property took on a life of its own on social media last year — a “Save the Keno Drive In-No Walmart Here” page on Facebook has attracted nearly 6,000 “likes” — Mills said it would be speculative to talk about potential future users of the site.

Mills said his real estate firm is working with Pleasant Prairie on a land-use plan covering the area roughly bounded by 91st Street, Sheridan Road, Highway 165 and Springbrook Road.

“There is a commercial corner there and we believe it’s a very good one,” Mills said.

Season to begin in April

This year’s season premiere for the Keno is to be a first-run movie, the much-promoted, “Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier,” which opens nationally April 4. It will come after some repairs to the theater’s weather-beaten screen.

Plans call for the drive-in to open April 4, however, it could be pushed back until April 11 depending upon the weather, according to manager Jeffrey Kohlberg, a principal with Cinema Management Corp., of Glenview, Ill.

If the theater has a full season, it may end at the end of October, Kohlberg said.

Before the first showing, several panels have to be replaced on the front of the wooden screen and several panels on the side and back have to be replaced and painted.

A fading industry

A Kenosha County fixture since the late 1940s, the Keno is one of a vanishing breed of entertainment venues that offered family fun to carloads of movie goers who often watched double features and cartoons for a low admission price.

The movie distribution industry’s ongoing conversion to digital projection has rendered many of the nation’s outdoor theaters extinct. It has put additional pressure on drive-ins, some of which may lack the finances to make the conversion with new screens, projectors and a refitted projection room.

Today, there are 353 drive-in theaters, according to Drive-In.com, an industry resource center.

Upgrade needed

The Keno uses the traditional film projection system that soon will become more limiting. Kohlberg, whose father owned more than 30 indoor and outdoor theaters in four states, has made the digital conversion at the other theater he manages in West Chicago, Ill., but Mills is hesitant to make that six-figure investment at the Keno.

“If operation depends upon getting 35-millimeter film and if there is no conversion, I think this will be the last year for the Keno,” Kohlberg said.

Meantime, admission and concession rates at the Keno will be unchanged, Kohlberg said. Regular prices are $8 for adults and $4 for children. Admission on certain nights is $12 per carload.

“Two first-run movies is at the price is a bargain,” he said.

— Assignment Editor Joe Potente contributed to this story.