Valle Drive-In owner says Newton landmark will reopen for the season after tornado damage repairs

Iowa's oldest drive-in movie theater will reopen Aug. 5 for the 2022 season following repairs of damage to the property during March 5's deadly tornado outbreak.

The Valle Drive-In, located at 4074 Highway F48 near Newton, was hit by the tail end of an EF-4 tornado that touched down southwest of Winterset, where six people were killed. It remained on the ground for more than 90 minutes, spinning northeast through parts of Madison, Warren, Polk and Jasper counties until dissipating near Newton.

The tornado had estimated winds of 170 mph and was 800 yards wide, and its path of nearly 70 miles was the second-longest for an Iowa tornado since 1980.

Owner Jeff Namminga told the Des Moines Register in the wake of the storm that the damage, affecting the screen, concessions building and a fence, was the worst he had seen in his ownership of the theater.

The drive-in typically opens in April each year. Namminga said that after the storm damage, he had hoped for a June reopening, but "we had massive delays with some of the materials and contractor timelines."

"The fence is actually still getting finished as we speak," he said. "Some of the stuff that was needed for the building just got wrapped up about a week and a half ago."

From the concessions building to the popcorn maker, the drive-in still has many of the original fixtures from its 1948 opening. Namminga said his goal was to repair, rather than replace, the damaged sections.

"It's just trying to keep that old, original, nostalgic-type stuff," Namminga said. "We had some people mention in Facebook posts that they hoped we were going to redo the bathrooms, for example, but we actually are trying to keep that building the original, as long as we possibly can."

The classic neon sign, which was showing wear and tear long before the tornado hit, was the only original fixture replaced.

"I'm really happy with that, actually. I think it looks fantastic," Namminga said. "We got to keep the design similar to the original one. For the nostalgic reasons, we added motion lights with arrows just to kind of get a little bit more of that 1950s type of feel. But it looks fantastic, and I hope it's a great landmark for many years to come."

Installing the projection system is the final task that must be completed before the reopening.

"It's not perfect, but it's as good as we could do with what we had at the time," Namminga said. "There's going to be some stuff that we're going to have to do throughout the fall, and even next spring, to kind of finish getting things back. But we're at a point where I think we can get things up and running now, and work through the rest of those repairs."

To help cover the cost, Namminga launched a line of Valle Drive-In T-shirts, which were available for order during a two-week period earlier in July. Some customers missed that window, he said, so he plans to offer the shirts again in conjunction with opening day at the drive-in.

"I think the support was really, really good on that, and I am incredibly appreciative of that support," he said. "I had a really high goal because I tend to be optimistic when it comes to those things, so we didn't quite hit the goal that I had. But we did much, much better than what my suppliers expected us to do."

Namminga said he does not yet know which movies he will be showing during opening week. Once the movie schedule is confirmed, it will be posted on the Valle Drive-In Facebook page.

Grace Altenhofen is a staff writer for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gracealtenhofen.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Newton's Valle Drive-In movie theater announces date to reopen