One of the best things about being a dad is playing catch with your children.

While my two daughters never got into sports at all, I must have played catch with my son 10,000 times in the first 16 years of his life.

When he was first learning how to catch a baseball, we used to play a game to see how many throws we could go in a row without dropping the ball. I think our record was 89 when he 6.

Without question, my favorite time playing catch with my son was at the Silver Bow Drive-In one early-summer night in 2018. The boy was 10, and I took him to the movie “Solo,” a show the girls in the house were not interested in.

We got to the drive-in theater really early to get a good spot. The sun was a long way from going down, so I popped the trunk and grabbed a ball and our mitts. I was his Little League coach, so we always had our gear bag in the trunk.

We played catch in front of our car for a solid half hour —talking about baseball and life the whole time — before we decided it was time to head to the concession stand for some pop, popcorn and Swedish fish.

Then, we settled in and watched a movie that was OK. It was a night for the ages.

I thought about that night often over the last couple of months. In December, we learned that a company had applied for a conditional-use permit from the Zoning Board of Adjustments to open a Maverick gas station right next door to the drive-in.

The owners who opened and have operated the drive-in since 1977 feared that the granting of that permit would force the drive-in to shut down. The lights, noise and smells from a gas station could ruin their business, they said.

On Thursday night, the board voted to approve the permit after a meeting filled with passionate pleas from the public to save the drive-in.

The process is far from perfect, and the lectures the drive-in supporters got from a couple of board members, who seemed to be offended by the public questioning the decision we did not yet know they would make, was puzzling and a bit offensive.

It was also kind of sad how the concerns of the rural residents seemed to fall on deaf ears.

But I have no reason to think that the 5-0 vote was guided by anything other than the way the board members interpreted the law, even though I think there is at least a decent chance the ruling could be overturned in District Court if it is appealed.

That is not what this column is about, however. The point here is that we can still save the drive-in if a gas station is, indeed, built next door. 

We do not have to lose the last drive-in theater in Montana over this. We can still make sure that the drive-in is there for our children’s children to go with their children.

We just have to go. We have to go, and we have to keep going.

Starting this May, we need to pack that place night after night to show the owners of the drive-in that it is still worth it to keep showing movies.

The vote at Thursday’s meeting was discouraging. It was heartbreaking on so many levels.

But there was one very encouraging thing about the meeting. 

Maverick representative Rich Piggott was there to put on a presentation. He talked about the plans the company has to try to mitigate the potential damages the station’s existence will likely have on the drive-in. 

The plans for planting non-native trees and brushes do not give us a ton of confidence, and there may be no way to eliminate all the light, noise and smells.

But I watched Piggott as drive-in supporter after drive-in supporter spoke before the board. He appeared to be listening. He often nodded his head in agreement, and he took a ton of notes.

He seemed genuine, and that should count for something.

That was a good sign that Maverick will, in fact, be willing to sit down with the owners of the drive-in to make sure that the gas station is the good neighbor it promises to be.

Maybe the station will even be willing to turn off its lights — or at least way down — during the hours movies are being played.

No matter what the gas station does, however, there will likely be some light, noise or smell distractions at the theater. Those distractions will force some people to stay away from the drive-in.

For nearly a half a century, Mark and Holly Hansen and their family has run the Silver Bow Drive-In. It is hard to imagine that the drive-in, which opens in May and closes in September, is a huge money maker for the family.

After all, the drive-in is the cheapest ticket to watch a movie you will find. The concession stand is also much less expensive than you will find in indoor movie theaters.

The Hansen family has run the theater because, well, that is just something the Hansen family does. Hansens have been running movie theaters in Montana for nearly 100 years.

They never did it to make fortunes. It was and still is a passion project.

The people of Southwest Montana — and well beyond — owe so much to that family for providing us something as wonderful as the Silver Bow Drive-In for so many years.

Now, it is time for us to return the favor.

If you go to the drive-in once or twice a year, make sure that you go once or twice more. Don’t stop at the gas station for your pop, popcorn and candy on the way. Make sure to buy it at the drive-in.

Yes, there will be more distractions while watching the movie. But there are already multiple distractions when you watch a movie anywhere.

In the theaters, you hear people talking or you see them playing on their phones. 

You see traffic driving by or those annoying little dashboard lights when you go to the drive in. Then there is always that one person who doesn’t realize his headlights are on after he starts his car on a cold night.

There are even more distractions when you try to watch a movie at home — especially if you have children or a smartphone.

The drive-in, though, is about so much more than the movie. It is about being out with your family, pets, friends, significant other or the person you are auditioning to be your significant other on a nice summer night. It is about seeing the nice family and their employees as you get out of the house.

It is about playing catch with your son or daughter as you wait for the sun to go down.

Right now, the United States has less than 300 authentic drive-in theaters. People in cities around the country would kill to have the Silver Bow Drive-In where they live.

We cannot let the distraction of a gas station next door ruin that.

— Bill Foley, who is usually the distraction during a movie, 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.