place in many small towns, as well as Parsons, was going down-

town on Saturday evening, parking on Main Street to just watch

people all evening. Some we knew would stop by and visit.”
Socialization wasn’t confined to the aforementioned hotspots
or even the side of the road. For 40 years, the Parsons Drive-In
Theater, located just east of town on what is now 24000 Road,
provided teens space to fraternize and even catch a bit of the
movie being played. Watching movies beneath the stars was a
magical way to spend a Friday or Saturday night, even if chatting
with friends or making out with your sweetheart were the main
priorities. The theater closed in 1988 and was demolished shortly
thereafter.
Don Herold also has fond memories of the drive-in, as well
as other nearby locations where teens assembled. “We had the
Parsons Theater for movies and the drive-in theater, where we
idolized our heroes growing up, like James Bond. And of course
we’d venture out to Parsons Lake. You’d go out there with your Bike’s Burger Bar lasted from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, changing hands (and
boyfriend or girlfriend and enjoy the moon and the stars and what names) in the years that followed. The establishment played a big role in Parsons’ cruis-
we called the submarine races (parking and making out). All these ing scene at the time. (Courtesy photo)
fun things going on. You might even have had a little bottle of
wine when you went out there. That was when we were a little
older and the legal drinking age was 18, so many of us were legal tion is that we have no control over it. Who would ever have
while we were in high school.” thought that cruising Main and visiting with friends would be
Drag racing was also a fashionable pastime for those involved something we would reminisce about decades later? Yet that’s al-
in the Parsons cruising scene, with teens testing the mettle of most a universal feeling among those who embarked upon the
their hot rods as well as their own abilities against their peers. It seemingly endless trek up and down Main Street. For many, those
wasn’t uncommon to hear the racers’ engines roaring long before truly were the best times of their lives.
the vehicles came into sight … and if you blinked, you’d have
missed them. Drag racing was so prominent that at one point
during the 1960s, Sheriff Leo Fredrick would block off the north
stretch of 32nd Street to allow teens to drag race legally on Sun-
day afternoons. Eventually, this activity stopped as a result of
complaints lodged by residents.
Nostalgia is a powerful emotion; one that gives us a sense of
warmth and comfort as we age. The strange thing about this emo-

This 1986 photo was taken by cruiser Jim Browne, looking toward the corner of 26th and Main.
(Courtesy photo)

30 Labette County Community Guide • 2021