Outdoor theater overcomes hurdles to become reality

Our young people sometimes bemoan that they have ideas, but no one listens to them. And that can be true, especially when it comes to ideas which simply aren’t realistic such as a mall in McCook or a restaurant on every corner.

But our younger residents are not wrong when they lament there isn’t as much for young people or families to do as they would like. So a group of young, local students came up with a plan to address that issue - to build a semi-permanent outdoor movie theater.

And thanks to their persistence, the first showing of Cars Under the Stars at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds will take place Saturday, May 4 with the first movie to be Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

For those who aren’t up with the latest trend, May 4th is known as Star Wars Day because of the saying “May the Fourth Be With You” in response to “May the Force Be With You.”

If you are saying to yourself that this particular movie is not your cup of tea, please consider one of the primary reasons Cars Under the Stars was created - to provide a form of entertainment in our community for all ages.

Older people may remember attending a drive-in movie as child, longing for the nostalgia of years gone by. Young people will get to experience what it is like to watch a movie under the stars, creating their own memories. Although they’ll miss one memory many of us may have of sneaking in via the trunk of someone’s car to save a few bucks.

The outdoor theater’s road to becoming a reality was not without a few detours, roadblocks and hurdles along the way. But that is what has perhaps made the project even more valuable for the students.

When the project gained traction in early 2022, there were several issues to consider.

MCFF could have just given them money to build the theater. Instead, the committee challenged the students with a matching grant, requiring them to go out into the community and share why the project was important for their hometown and ask for funding to make the theater happen.

MCFF could have just sent the students out into the community to make the “asks.” Instead, the committee set up a “Make the Ask” training, where the YCR students practiced sharing their “why” and asking for a donation with McCook Fund Advisory Committee members. This was also a great way to start off on a positive note because the committee members were going to be an easy “yes.”

And when school started in August 2022, the funds needed to purchase the outdoor theater equipment was in place. It seemed like the project was ready for its first showing. Yet, the project still didn’t happen because of few more hurdles.

MCFF could have just made all the calls to vendors to move the project along. But instead, the students were calling the companies to have the screen built, the projector delivered and the movie studios to determine options for licensing movies. And they discovered that adults didn’t always take them seriously, that they didn’t know the right questions to ask or that they didn’t have the right answers from those who had been working on the project in the past.

These situations caused countless delays but thanks to assistance from adults including YCR sponsor Shelly Sehnert, Pam Wolford and Mark Graff, the students found the results they needed including a sign company willing to come to McCook to build the screen, a local business to donate poles to hold the screen, and the projector company helping to determine what would work best in the space at the fairgrounds.

The high school got on board by constructing the building to house the projector, protecting it from the elements, as part of the woods class.

So nearly two years later, the first movie at Cars Under the Stars will happen - weather permitting as always.

And added difficulty to overcome is the nature of students. If the educational system is working correctly, the students are only at this stage of their life - in high school - for a few years. The seniors graduate and new crop of students move into the leadership roles.

This means that the students who initially came up with the outdoor theater project are no longer involved, taking with them ideas conceived, promises made and research conducted. That is why it is so important to have transition plans in place, whether it involves students in this case or adults serving on boards and committees in a community. It also demonstrates why it is important to have distributed leadership. Putting all the eggs in one basket - or just having one person knowing or doing everything - can lead to a scrambled mess if something happens to the basket or to that one person.

Distributed leadership also instills a sense of confidence.

I have seen the YCR members, who were just freshmen or sophomores when the project was conceived, step up and take over including Becca Koenig and Abigail Boner. But the time of the first showing, hopefully, every member of YCR will have contributing to the project and learned along the way.

Like most things of value in life, there were a few stumbling blocks but these young people have learned and persevered to see the outdoor theater come to life. But perhaps most importantly, these young people have grown as leaders, who have not only seen this project come to fruition but will likely go on to make a lot of other projects happen to make their hometowns even better places to call home.