Joyland Theatre

The Joyland Theatre was originally built in 1924 as the Hirtles Theatre, but was destroyed by the great fire of 1929 which destroyed much of the downtown commercial buildings. It was the first business to rebuild after the fire, reopening in either that same year or the following year. It was built by Manuel S. Hirtle who previously ran silent movies in one of the town halls with his wife playing the piano to accompany the film. Manuel and his wife operated it until 1951 when he sold it to Leonard Larson of Calgary.

Larson moved to Strathmore with his family to operate the theatre, who also managed the Strathmore CO-OP store located next door. Leonard wanted to change the name of the theatre and held a contest. The Hirtles Theatre name was changed to Joyland Theatre after Leonard’s two eldest children Joy and Lanny in 1951. He operated the theatre until 1969 when his son Lanny took over the business. ‍ A few years later, Lanny purchased and ran the Wales Theatre in High River. Lanny sold out of the theatre business in 1977 and moved to Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. For a short time, the Joyland was operated by George Elise, and in 1978, the Joyland was purchased by Bill and Sheila Crispen who had been running the Capitol Theatre in Hanna. Bill and Sheila operated the Joyland for 35 years with their two daughters Michelle and Melissa who grew up in the theatre business. Over the years, the Joyland hasn’t changed much, but the lobby was renovated in 1999, making it larger by taking some space from the store next to the theatre.

In January 2014, the Crispens sold the Joyland to Jeff and Kathy Larson from Drumheller. The Drumheller couple also own and operate the Napier Theatre there and Jeff is actually Lanny Larson’s second son of three. Jeff started out working as a projectionist in 1985 and bought his first theatre, the New Hope Cinema in Hope, British Columbia, in 1989. His older brother Kevin later owns and operates the Hope Theatre until its 2024 closure. Jeff then operated the Clova Theatre in Cloverdale B.C. for 6 years and first took over the Napier in Drumheller in 1996.