When you watch a movie at the Silver-Bow Drive In, it is kind of like traveling back in time.

Decades ago, going to drive-in movie theaters was something everybody got to go to. Today, it is something that is unique to the people of Butte and Southwest Montana.

It is also something that Butte folks do not take for granted. During the drive-in season, the place is packed. People line up hours before the movies even start.

People watch the movies in the rain and even the snow. On beautiful summer nights, you see people sitting in chairs outside their cars or in the back of their trucks.

I cannot think of a better way to spend a summer night.

Just about everywhere else in the world, the only place people can see a drive-in theater is if they watch an old movie or an episode of Happy Days.

The Silver Bow Drive-In is the only genuine drive-in in Montana. You hear all the time about the things we do not have in Butte — like the big box stores and certain restaurants. Well, when it comes to the drive-in, the rest of the state is jealous of us.

We need to make sure that we keep it that way.

We lost the Columbia Gardens. We lost the Butte Copper Kings. We cannot also lose the Silver Bow Drive-In.

Some of my most special nights growing up came at the Silver Bow Drive-In. Some of my most special nights being a dad were there, too. 

When my oldest daughter was young, she loved to go to the drive-in. My wife and I would take her early, get some popcorn and Swedish Fish. Then she would fall asleep before the end of the previews, so we could watch any movie we wanted. 

Later, we could only go when there was a movie appropriate for a child.

A few years ago, my son and I went to the drive-in to watch one of the Star Wars movies. We got their super early, so we could get a good spot. We brought our mitts, and we played catch with a baseball before the movie started.

If we tried that at the Butte Plaza, they would ask us to leave.

You can do that at the drive-in. The drive-in is just such a special place where your experience cannot be rivaled by a trip to an indoor theater.

The family that has operated the drive-in since 1977, though, fears that a proposed gas station and convenience store right next door could put the future of the drive-in in serious jeopardy. They think it would kill the drive-in.

The Hansen family has already been through several scares that could have potentially put them out of business in recent years. Several years ago, they were forced to spend a ton of money to change to a digital system because sticking with film was not an option.

They spent the money to preserve the business, and a community was thankful.

Then, of course, came COVID. It took some creativity and hard work to make sure the drive-in survived that difficult time.

We learned about the latest potential threat earlier this month. Arizona based Ronning Development and Maverik, a convenience store operator based in Salt Lake City, want to build a 6,000-square-foot convenience store and a gas station on 7 acres right next to the drive-in.

The light pollution, noise and possible omissions problems that a gas station could present could spell the end of the drive-in, the Hansen family says.

Fans of the drive-in joined the family to pack the Dec. 14 zoning board meeting to express their concerns about the gas station and what it means to the drive-in. 

One local contractor spoke in favor of the gas station, and others spoke out for it on social media.

I saw one Facebook poster refer to people outraged by the threat to the drive-in as “crybabies.” He said the developer owns the property, and thus can do what he wants with it.

That is true, but only to a point. Property rights only go so far. When your actions infringe on the property rights of others, there is a problem.

The bigger problem is the lack of transparency behind this whole ordeal. The Hansen family found out about the plans almost by accident. Somehow, a neighbor noticed the small sign posted on the property in question and notified them.

They did not see any small notices in the back pages of The Montana Standard because hardly anybody sees those. Now that the Standard publishes a paper only three days each week, not nearly as many people subscribe to a physical paper as they did in the past. Such a notice is very difficult to find on line, if it is available at all.

If a neighbor did not notice the very small sign, the Hansen family might have learned about the gas station when the developer broke ground.

It reminds me of how my dad found out about plans to dump toxic waste from Superfund cleanup in the old Dublin Gulch neighborhood, which is dangerously close to many houses, back in August. He saw the chief executive and other officials looking at the abandoned and fenced-off neighborhood that has been ignored for half a century, and he asked a question.

He saw past the hemming and hawing that came with the answer, and we started asking more questions. Otherwise, we probably would have just noticed that trucks were suddenly dumping on the hallowed ground next summer.

That is the kind of stuff that happens when our public officials keep us in the dark. That is why we need real transparency in our local government.

Maybe there is a chance that the gas station and the drive-in can co-exist. Maybe there isn’t. 

Maybe some kind of a land swap could be orchestrated so the gas station can be built in a different location nearby, allowing the drive-in to still operate.

After all, we do not want to turn down the construction jobs and long-term employment the gas station would provide.

The one thing that is for sure, though, is that the concerns of the drive-in owners should be listened to and taken into consideration as a zoning decision is made. Their concerns are real.

So are our concerns about the lack of transparency our local government has shown time after time.

The owners of the adjacent property should not have been the last people to hear about these plans. Residents of Centerville should not have found out by happenstance that the county planned to allow the dumping of toxic waste near their homes.

Nobody should have to go and beg the local government to stop making decisions that could kill their business or potentially endanger their health.

In Butte, we say we care about historic preservation. When you remodel your house or business, you might have to face restrictions on how you can do it.

Having people looking out for that history is a great thing. Preserving that history is important.

We should also strive to preserve the living history that is the Silver Bow Drive-In. That history is important, too. It is important to the business owners, and it is important to the thousands of people who visit the drive-in each year.

Without it, we will have no other avenue to take those magical trips back in time.

— Bill Foley, who is running to be the next chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.