When you turn onto a pitch-dark side street in Worland, Wyoming, on a Thursday night, one building’s lights shine bright: Washakie Cinemas.
Enter the lobby and the smell of buttery, freshly popped popcorn fills the air. Families of four or more trickle in for a showing of “Moana 2,” ordering soda, candy and extra butter on their popcorn.
But two years ago, this was just a dark street. The theater had gone under during the pandemic and was basically abandoned.
“The whole ceiling inside the theaters was falling onto the chairs,” said Chasity Dykstra, who was working the register.
She lives in the neighboring town of Ten Sleep with her husband and their teenagers.
“We had just driven by a couple of times,” Dykstra recalled. “And I'm like, we should buy that and reopen it.”
What eventually motivated them to completely renovate the theater?
“Wanting to provide opportunities for people to have something to do,” according to Dykstra. “There's not a lot of entertainment here in our small community.”
Between the pandemic, labor strikes and streaming services, the last few years have been hard on the industry. But things are getting back to normal according to NATO — the National Association of Movie Theater Owners, not the military alliance — which says audience counts are trending back up.
However, in small towns like Worland, those big industry themes can play out differently. These theaters are the lifeblood of their communities. They’re often the only kind of social entertainment for hundreds of miles and can help the town economy, funnelling customers to nearby restaurants and bars.
Even the quirkiest of the quirky can be viable businesses, including Ryan Tinnelli’s minute-long cartoons.
“It's only black and white, no dialogue, just sound,” said Tinnelli, as his Sharpie-drawn cartoon character whistled in the background. “And I also do all hand-drawn, and I only use the human voice.”
Tinnelli has a scruffy graying beard and full sleeves of tattoos. He was wearing a bright green beanie with green sunglasses atop his head.
A lot of his cartoons get at political themes. The one he was showing in called “Border Challenge” and addresses immigration issues.
“I like stirring things up a little bit,” he said. “It’s good for the world.”
He was showing the animation in one of five makeshift theaters inside Tinnelli’s House of Wonder — a 20,000-square foot bright pink historic building in Shoshoni. He’s been renovating it and filling it with art for 18 years.
“ So there are certain artists that spend like half their life doing one crazy project,” Tinnelli said. “I'm kind of like the Willy Wonka of Shoshoni.”
Located in the middle of the desert, the town is home to less than 500 people. It has a gas station, a bar and sits at the crossroads of two highways.
“I call it ‘strangely bizarre,’” Tinnelli said.
This building is a landmark for locals and international travelers on their way to Yellowstone National Park. Plus, the entrance fee is only $5.
“It's not about the money to me, like the satisfaction of people watching it, seeing their expression is really cool,” Tinnelli said.
He also loves preserving this historic building, which had a famous malt shop and a national bank once owned by President Gerald Ford’s grandfather.
A couple hours north in Lovell, another historic theater — the Hyart — is the big draw in town.
“All of the walls and the decoration and all that is from 1951,” manager Linda Mangus said, standing in the vibrantly carpeted movie theater aisle next to rows of velvet chairs. “All of the seats, and you can see they're worn, are from 1951.”
Mangus said the single-screen theater shut down but the town revived it as a nonprofit in the early 2000s. It shows blockbusters, like “Moana 2,” and is mostly run by volunteers.
“There's a lot of people that have grown up, or their relatives have grown up, in this theater,” Mangus said.
That includes Sharon Roth, who was checking tickets.
“Hi kids, how are you tonight?” Roth said, greeting a group of nine.
She worked here when she was teenager and even met her husband here.
“He came to the show, and the boss kicked him out cause he was hanging around too much,” Roth recalled, laughing.
Amid the constant rumbling of the popcorn and soda machines on a Friday night, a crowd of locals caught up on the latest town happenings. Allison Kitchen was there with her two kids and their friends.
“It's kind of what you do on Friday and Saturday night here,” she explained with a smile. “The whole town comes out.”
As she headed into the theater, she said they have so many friends there, it’s like a family.
“It's like watching it in your living room with your loved ones, almost.”
Except, she said, it’s way better on the big screen.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
