Local business to rebuild historic Spud Drive-In

DRIGGS, Idaho (KIFI) - An iconic Idaho landmark is now under new management. Driggs' historic Spud Drive-In will be rebuilt by the theater's new owner MD Landscaping and Nursery.

Last year, the theater screen, which was more than 70-years-old, was toppled by destructive late winter winds. Generations of idahoans enjoyed the spud and now little of the theater remains.

"A lot of our employees are local, so they were just as sad as everybody else in the community with the destruction of the screen," MD Landscaping Co-Owner Arno Kruisman said. "So they were very, very supportive of getting the screen back up and making this work."

The Spud was once on the National Register of Historic Places for having one of the last remaining outdoor wooden screens in the country.

The new owners plan to restore the screen as historically accurately as possible, but say they may need to make some other major updates.

"One of the neat things about the new modern technology is that we may be able to show movies a little bit earlier in the evening with LCD screens," MD Landscaping Co-Owner Brian Haynie said. "We'd like that(the Spud) to be a place where the community can gather."

The new owners say their vision for the spud stretches beyond just movies. They want to put as much care and effort into the iconic theater as they and their employees do for their own business.

They already have plans to do a massive overhaul of the property's landscaping and add cabins for rent on the back of the property.

"We'd like to be able to have live music before the movie start... maybe host car, a farmer's market potentially or a flea market or whatever," Haynie said. "People could come there. They could reserve it for a get together with their work or with the community or whatever it may be."

Their vision is to make a family friendly well built multi-use space. But the real meat and potatoes of the business would still be the drive-in theater.

"The county wants to make sure that we do it right. We want to make sure we do it right," Haynie said. "We have to make sure the Department of Environmental Quality is involved to make sure we have the right septic and water lines and all the things put in so that we can operate it the right way. And as soon as we have all those ducks lined up, we'll get going."

The new owners are already working on final permits and hope to get started as soon as this fall.