A part of the history of Winner was taken down early this fall

The Pix Drive-In Theater was located west of Winner on Highway 18. It was a place for families and kids to go during the summer to enjoy a great movie.

Winner was one of very few cities that featured two drive in theaters.

A movie company in Iowa purchased the Pix Drive-in screen and plans to use it in an outdoor theater.

The screen is going to Superior 71 Drive-In Theater in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

The Pix Drive-In opened Sept. 9, 1966 and the opening movie was “Cat Ballou” staring Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda.

The Pix was leased to D & N Theater Corp and R. C. Metzger was the buyer and booker for the corporation.

Harold Davis leased the drive-in theater from the D&N Theater Corp for the 1967 season.

The  Pix boasted the largest screen in the state. The first screen was built similar to the drive ins in Tyndall, Gregory and O’Neill, Neb. It was destroyed by a tornado in June 1968.  Soon after the tornado, a new screen was installed.

The original screen had a full length garage attached to it.

The drive in had a capacity for 275 cars. The drive in was closed on Sept. 13, 1998 after the showing of the movie “The Negotiator.”

The only mention of D&N Theater corporation has been in the Winner Advocate and its association with Pix Theater on Main St and the Pix drive-in theater.

Steve Flora, a graduate Winner High School and South Dakota State University, was a good friend of the Metzgers. He said it may have been set up as a subsidiary under Ben-Dak Investment Company. Ben-Dak was a Metzger family business with holdings in motion picture theaters and drive-in theaters in Nebraska and South Dakota. Commercial real estate, farm land and a portfolio of stocks and bonds.

The Pix Drive-in was the last theater built by the Metzger family. In addition to Flora, Royce McDowell of Winner provided a lot of help with old stories and pictures of the drive-in theater.