‘Exhausted from the strife:’ Sask. village hoping to heal after drive-in debacle

After months of disagreement and frustration surrounding its outdoor drive-in theatre, the Resort Village of Manitou Beach is sharing its side of the story behind a broken projector and how that’s led to the fracturing of village relationships.

When a bulb exploded inside the projector at the Manitou Beach Drive-In Theatre at the end of last summer, the community couldn’t have imagined the fallout that would take place.

The bulb incident

The problems surrounding the drive-in started with a transformer in the Manitou and District Regional Park Campground. Last summer, Elise Dale, chief administrative officer with the resort village, said a power surge blew the transformer, knocking out power and causing major damage to the projector at the theatre.

Quickly, the resort village held an emergency council meeting and approved a sum of more than $8,000 for repairs at that time. Given how old the technology was, village councillor Robb LaRochelle said a company from Los Angeles had to be contacted to find a technician in Alberta who had the really specific knowledge to do the repairs.

The village agreed to take on the cost of the repairs, though it was reluctant to burden ratepayers because of the surprise bill.

LaRochelle called the emergency meeting a “pivotal moment,” where the council made its decision because the village felt its relationship with the drive-in operator was strong enough at the time to warrant the repairs being made.

“What we didn’t learn but we investigated after the fact … we were never told that the technician told the operator that (the) bulb needed to be changed,” explained Dale.

Through speaking with the technician afterwards, Dale said the village was told that the operator of the drive-in, Earl Hayhurst, asked the technician to do the replacement with an older bulb that the drive-in already had.

The technician reportedly informed Hayhurst a new bulb was necessary, to which Hayhurst reportedly insisted twice that the older bulb indeed be installed.

The bulb was installed by the technician and shortly after exploded.

Dale and LaRochelle aren’t sure exactly why Hayhurst would have been so insistent that the bulb be installed, but they presume it was out of a feeling of urgency to ensure the summer movie season could continue at the drive-in. Neither said any malice was assumed on the part of the operator for the unfortunate incident.

The explosion caused more major damage to the projector at the drive-in and has rendered it useless.

“As soon as it was fixed, it was broken again,” LaRochelle said.

Typically, Dale said the drive-in operates seasonally, with its last showings of the year in early September. Last year, the drive-in closed earlier, near the end of August, because of the explosion.

The village was not prepared to spend thousands of dollars again to re-repair the projector, and instead put the responsibility for footing the repair bill on Hayhurst. Dale and LaRochelle said it was after this that the operator began making posts to Facebook about the explosion at the drive-in and condemning the village.

“Our village staff endured quite a bit of harassment from this individual at this time,” Dale said.

However the incident may have happened, Dale said the village saw Hayhurst as responsible for the negligence in instructing the technician to install the bulb, and thus owed the village for the damages caused by the explosion.

“It wasn’t budgeted for. Our budget is tight due to our current debt load,” Dale said. “It wasn’t as easy as just changing a light bulb as it might’ve been if the leaseholder had just (come) to us and said, ‘Hey, now it needs a new lightbulb.’ ”

That repair would’ve cost the village $1,500.

“We’ve replaced the lightbulb before, we would have done that,” Dale said, calling the current $20,000 repair price tag for the projector “hard to swallow.”

Further concerns

Even after the bulb incident, Dale and LaRochelle said the village was prepared and willing to continue leasing the drive-in to Hayhurst, until the social media posts began.

Despite navigating other concerns, LaRochelle said the village council was happy with Hayhurst as the renter and operator of the drive-in.

“We were willing to work with him — not after this mess that he’s created — but we were willing to work with him and to see a successful season,” Dale said.

The “mess” Dale referred to are some posts made to Facebook by Hayhurst, condemning the village’s treatment towards him and offering his own explanations for the incident.

Eventually, the village sent a letter to Hayhurst in December, outlining the now-former operator was being held responsible to pay for the damage caused to the projector. Dale said the hope was that the letter would encourage Hayhurst to fulfil his obligations.

Dale said Hayhurst defaulted on his contract, which will not be renewed, and has not paid the village. Should the village have received the more than $9,000 it claims Hayhurst owed, Dale said the funds would have been reinvested into the drive-in and repairs for the projector.

“We are coming from a deficit … If we were sitting in a really well-balanced financial position, it wouldn’t even be a question; we would have just fixed it,” Dale said.

Mention was also made in the letter about crude language, expletives, and angry behaviour reportedly used by Hayhurst against office staff and others. LaRochelle clarified that even though the working relationship between the operator and the village was stable, Hayhurst wasn’t always pleasant to deal with and often spoke crudely.

Dale said she personally was called names several times, both directly and indirectly, by the former operator. LaRochelle said the village was addressing that concern with the operator privately.

“He was very rude to office staff in general and this just exploded,” Dale explained, calling it a negative situation for everyone involved.

Unlike what the letter stated, Dale said legal action has not been pursued against the former operator due to the cost.

Then there was the issue of fundraising.

Dale said the possibility of doing a fundraiser of sorts was inquired about during the initial emergency council meeting after the power surge. The idea of showing a movie or two for that purpose appealed to many as a way to help cover some of the repair costs at the time.

Following the bulb’s explosion, a GoFundMe page was reportedly posted and a bank account created by the operator to gather funds for the drive-in. However, the village, as the owner of the drive-in, was not included in this.

“I get it; he’s trying to take advantage of the momentum,” Dale said. “Everyone was really concerned about the drive-in … but at the same time, there’s a matter of social responsibility.”

Dale said she received phone calls from villagers asking for charitable donation receipts from the municipality for their donations to the drive-in. That’s how the village became aware the fundraising was even happening.

“I think council would have been in favour of different types of fundraising but I think it’s just the manner in which it was done,” Dale said. “He could have easily come and requested that from us and he never did.”

“That’s something we probably would have endorsed in some capacity,” LaRochelle said.

The village never learned how much was raised and was never given access to the bank account. Dale said it’s possible the money was returned to those who donated, but she doesn’t know for sure. The village never received any money from these efforts.

The other side

Hayhurst declined an interview with 650 CKOM, citing the need to focus on his mental health and his own business in Watrous, a video rental store. He has, however, been very vocal about his own recollection of events on Facebook.

It differs from the village’s account.

Using the Facebook page The Drive In At Manitou Beach, Hayhurst made a post on Oct. 5 to a statement put out by the village online. Dale and LaRochelle said the village’s statement was a response to the various inquiries they’d had from the public about fundraising efforts by Hayhurst for the drive-in.

The statement by the village clarified it was the owner of the drive-in and said its council was in the process of deciding on a course of action, of which the public would be notified when reached. It also clarified that the village had not been informed of or included in the fundraising efforts.

Hayhurst called this statement a “very public and unnecessary attack.”

He claimed, with respect to the fundraising attempts, he reached out to Dale through email and never heard back, but later received a phone call where administration “screamed” at him about the fundraising situation.

“All I have EVER wanted throughout this situation is to see the drive-in back up and running,” Hayhurst wrote in his post. “I love the place. It is a great gig and I enjoy seeing families, parents, grandparents and kids all having a good time.”

In a later post, Hayhurst shared his own explanation for the explosion. He said he’s not knowledgeable about the technology aspect of the drive-in and that he was not informed by the technician at the time of the repairs that an old bulb could explode or cause damage.

“I ALWAYS said (I) know nothing about the working of the projector just how to turn it on and off, I am not a tech,” Hayhurst wrote. “I am not trained in any of the inner workings of the equipment any problems (there) were with the projector.

“And does anyone really think I would in any way knowingly allow a damaged bulb (to) be installed, of course not, wouldn’t happen.”

Hayhurst also disputed his leases with the village.

He added he has quit the drive-in as a result of “management” and its “smear campaign” against him. He also listed a number of expenses he incurred as a result of operating the drive-in, including procuring movies, running concessions and utility costs.

Dale said most of the costs Hayhurst listed on one of his Facebook posts were operational costs that he was expected to incur as part of his contract.

“It’s very self-defeating to see that whole negative narrative on social media,” Dale said.

“We would call that very misrepresentative of the facts and the truth,” LaRochelle added. “We were kind of dumbfounded.”

Much of the negativity shown towards the village online, however, has come from people who are not part of the Manitou Beach community, according to Dale and LaRochelle.

Saddled with debt

The village has spent the past number of years dealing with a lot of debt, inherited from previous councils as a result of years of flooding and other expenses, like purchasing the Manitou Drive-In.

When the current council for the village came to power in October 2020, the village was — and is still — paying off its 10-year agreement on the purchase of the drive-in in 2014 for $368,550.

Dale said division in the village seemed to really begin shortly after that 2020 election when a totally new council was brought in.

“It just seemed like there was a lot of strife in the community at that point,” Dale reflected, noting the significant financial concerns the new council took on after that election.

When the drive-in came up for sale, it was because the previous owner was at a point where they could no longer run it themselves. The village did not want to lose the drive-in, so the decision to purchase it was made, despite other financial complications.

Since 2020, a survey done in Manitou Beach about the drive-in indicated more than half of the community doesn’t like that the village owns and loses money on the drive-in, with some citing concerns about local government interfering with businesses.

“Everybody, we all have strong nostalgia,” LaRochelle said. “Whether that was the Manitou drive-in or a drive-in from another place where we grew up … that’s a real value and we recognize that.”

This year, Dale said the village is finally on track for some crucial infrastructure upgrades as it continues to manage its debt load.

Hayhurst was passionate about movies, LaRochelle said, and while he said Hayhurst seemed generally content to limit events at the drive-in to just showing movies, the village council was primarily pleased that the drive-in was continuing to operate.

Until the crisis with the projector.

While the village owns the drive-in and thus its equipment like the projector, the operator is the one who is supposed to take care of and maintain it.

Last October, Dale reported in the “Manitou Matters” community newsletter that $117,841.40 had been spent that year in tourism.

In that same newsletter, the drive-in — formerly known as the Jubilee Drive-in — is referred to as “an integral part of the Manitou Beach experience since 1951.”

The contract between the drive-in operator and the village, according to Dale, allows for the operator to be paid a certain percentage of intake from the movies shown and all concession proceeds. The operator’s contract was also improved in his second year, LaRochelle said, to formally provide the renter with further compensation in the form of the revenue made at the flea market that operates weekly out of the drive-in space.

The operator position is not a lucrative one, Dale explained, adding the village also takes a loss each year on the drive-in’s operating costs of about $9,000. To date, the drive-in has lost $68,000 in operating costs since 2015.

Next showing?

Neither Dale nor LaRochelle wishes to further tensions with Hayhurst. LaRochelle was clear he does not wish to slander the former operator, but with the interest garnered around the future of the drive-in, he wanted the village’s account to be shared as well.

LaRochelle said the community is “exhausted from the strife” that has been going on.

“I’m really just worried that this keeps perpetuating this scenario,” he said, noting the drive-in is just one of many things that bring people to Manitou Beach.

“It’s not just as simple as he’s making it out to be,” Dale stated. “At the end of the day, his negligence cost us the projector and we got the bad press for that.”

The village has since decided to tender out the drive-in and has put out a request for proposals for the site.

Not only do Dale and LaRochelle hope it continues as a drive-in — and can open this season — but LaRochelle said there are hopes the next operator is someone passionate about community events and the potential that the area could be.

“It would be so nice to have something creative and positive and family-focused,” LaRochelle said.

“We just want this to be over and done with,” Dale said. “Hopefully we will have a new operator for the upcoming season and looking forward to new and improved events maybe … We think that would be really exciting.”

The request for proposal document on the Resort Village’s website states that proposals can be submitted to the village until Thursday of this week. It calls the theatre “fully operational,” apart from the projector, which could be replaced through a cost sharing agreement. A new operator might instead provide their own projector or “explore new technologies.”

Dale suggested that outdoor concerts could be held at the space, as well as church events and the weekly flea market. A carnival held during summer days — with a waterslide, permanent vendors and concession stand — is a vision LaRochelle has for the area.

“We do view it as an investment in tourism,” Dale said. “It’s got that beautiful, nostalgic value to it. We would definitely like to see it operating again and we hope we find the perfect operator.”

“We don’t need to make anything but we don’t want to lose anything,” LaRochelle added.

–Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify the source of information on the power surge.