Preston High SchoolPreston, Idaho
Name
Jon Heder · photographed May 2007
No. 0703–0604 · 151 East 200 South
Filmed in July 2003, in the town where its director grew up, for pocket money. The film’s own titles show a hand pulling Napoleon’s school ID out of a wallet.
The ID is in its window. Candle the eggs
Ritewood Egg · near Franklin, Idaho
The chicken-farm scenes were shot at Ritewood, a working egg farm south of Preston where Hess said his brothers had worked. Egg graders still candle: they twirl each egg in front of a light and read the shadow inside without breaking it. Every egg on this flat has a real place inside.
Filmed at Ritewood Egg; Napoleon and others earn a wage moving chickens.
Hess: the chicken farm his brothers worked at.
Candling: the egg is twirled before a light and judged by what shows inside.
University of Kentucky 4-H Poultry: Interior egg grading by candling
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
No. 4
No. 5
No. 6
Six eggs on the flat, the lamp on. Hold one to the light.
Candled: 0 of 6
South 4000 East, near Franklin, Idaho
The chicken-farm scenes, where Napoleon and others earn a wage moving chickens, were filmed at Ritewood.
Hess said it was the chicken farm his brothers had worked at.
In 2007 it had more than 1.2 million laying hens and about 50 full-time staff.
A working farm, closed to visitors. It is not mapped; the photograph is the town of Franklin nearby.
Ritewood is a big business: in 2007 it kept more than 1.2 million laying hens and took in 60,000 chicks a month. It is not open to visitors and isn’t on the map; the photograph is the town of Franklin nearby.
Hens, chicks and staff at Ritewood in 2007.
Idaho Ag Today: Farm Bureau Women of the Year, Wright (14 December 2007)
East 200 South · Preston
Napoleon’s school is Hess’s own. He graduated from it in 1997, six years before he came back to film its corridors and lockers with a classmate, Jon Heder, as his lead.
2007: the front on East 200 South, photographed the same August afternoon as the rest of Preston on this page.
151 East 200 South, Preston, Idaho
Napoleon’s school is Preston High School; the lockers were filmed here.
Jared Hess grew up in Preston and went to Preston High; parts of the film come from his time there.
He graduated from Preston High in 1997.
Fans still come to look for the tetherball pole.
A working high school. See the front from the street; don’t go in during the school day.
Fans still go looking for it. Movie Locations puts the tetherball scene at 525 South 400 East in its text and at Preston High in its photo caption, so we haven’t pinned it.
The tetherball address and the caption.
Visitors looking for the pole.
State Street, which is U.S. Route 91
A suit, a self-defence class and a lane at the bowling alley, all on the main road through town. The thrift store dressed most of the film.
36 South State Street, Preston
Napoleon buys his prom suit here, off the mannequin, and a dance video.
Movie Locations says the store furnished most of the film’s wardrobe.
The store opened at this address in 1978; at about 2,300 square feet it is the smallest of the 46 Deseret Industries stores.
A working thrift store on the main street; go in and look round. Donations go to the street behind.
Preston
The thrift store where Napoleon buys his suit, still trading at 36 South State Street. The smallest of the chain’s stores, with old-style window displays.
Read about the store
12½ North State Street, Preston
Kip and Napoleon sign up for Rex’s self-defence classes here.
Diedrich Bader plays Rex.
An upstairs room on the main street. Look from the pavement; it is not open to visitors.
411 South Highway 91, Preston
Kip and Uncle Rico plan their business venture here.
The lanes have been mostly left alone since filming, with the same sunshine symbol on the wall.
It shows photographs from the film and the ball Uncle Rico used.
A working bowling alley with a grill. In 2023 it opened Monday to Saturday, 11am to 8pm; ring ahead. The photograph is the highway through downtown, not the alley.
Preston · Monday to Saturday, 11am–8pm (2023) · ring ahead
The alley where Kip and Uncle Rico plan their venture, with Hawaiian barbecue from the Island Bowl Grill and the film’s photographs on the walls.
Read about itFarm roads and side streets
Napoleon’s, Pedro’s and Summer’s houses are family homes. We name the roads, show the road or a street nearby, and leave them off the map. If you drive past, stay in the car.
Many locations are private homes; please do not trespass or annoy the occupants.
800 North Road, outside Preston
Napoleon lives here with his brother Kip and their grandma.
The house, the school and Pedro’s house are where most visitors head; Tina the llama lived at Napoleon’s.
The chamber of commerce asks fans not to trespass or bother the people who live in the film’s houses.
A private home. It is not mapped, and the photograph is the road outside, not the house. Stay on the road.
South 2nd East, Preston
Napoleon tries a jump on Pedro’s bike outside this house.
Visitors who want Pedro’s house in town are on their own: it is a family home.
A private home. It is not mapped, and the photograph is downtown Preston a few blocks away, not the house.
Parkinson Road, south of Preston
Pedro leaves a homemade cake outside Summer’s house; she is his rival for class president.
A private home. It is not mapped, and the photograph is farmland near Preston, not the house.
South to Utah · north to the dunes
Two places the film went outside Preston: a drive-in over the state line and the sand dunes far up the Snake River Plain.
190 South 200 West (Movie Locations: 200 East), Richmond, Utah
Kip tells Uncle Rico about LaFawnduh, his girlfriend from the internet, here.
It opened in 1959 as Jed’s.
It is in Richmond, Utah, not Preston. The building has been torn down and rebuilt on the same site; the owner, David Johnson, said yes when Hess asked to film.
A working burger drive-in on the site of the one in the film, in a newer building. The photographs are Richmond’s Main Street and the road north.
19.9 km12.4 miles south to Big J’s
Preston High
208.2 km129.4 miles north to the dunes
Egin Lakes, eight miles west of St. Anthony, Idaho
Grandma breaks her coccyx out riding on the dunes.
The dunes cover 10,600 acres of white quartz sand and rise up to 400 feet.
Day use costs $10; Egin Lakes campground has 48 sites, 26 of them bookable.
Public land run by the BLM: $10 a day. The big dunes west of Egin Lakes are closed from 1 January until sunrise on 1 April.
St. Anthony · $10 a day · camping extra
Public land eight miles west of St. Anthony: 10,600 acres of white sand, with a campground at Egin Lakes. The big dunes close from 1 January to 1 April.
Plan a visitMovie Locations gives Big J’s address as 200 East; OpenStreetMap maps it on 200 West. The pin is OpenStreetMap’s.
The address in the guide.
The mapped restaurant.
Cache Valley
Live marketplace results for the valley south of Preston, round Richmond and Logan. None is about this film.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursLamont Reservoir · east of Preston
The End
The credits have rolled. Don’t get up yet.
Two months later, Kip and LaFawnduh marry.
Shot months after the film was completed, at Lamont Reservoir.
Sundance · 17 January 2004
Napoleon. Hess’s classmate, paid $1,000 for the part. Photographed in 2007.
Pedro Sánchez. Photographed in 2008.
Directed it and wrote it with Jerusha Hess. Photographed in 2009.
Wikipedia gives the budget as $400,000; Jerusha Hess told Deseret News it was $200,000. It premiered at Sundance on 17 January 2004, where Fox Searchlight bought it, opened on 11 June 2004 and took about $46 million worldwide.
Deseret News counts 400 or 500 extras in the dance scene. In April 2005 the Idaho Legislature passed a resolution commending the film-makers.
The titles: objects on a table, and a school ID pulled from a wallet.
Budget $400,000; Sundance; Fox Searchlight; release; $46.1 million; Heder’s $1,000; the 2005 resolution.
Budget $200,000, in Jerusha Hess’s words; 400 or 500 extras.
Preston held a Napoleon Dynamite Festival for several summers, with tater-tot eating, tetherball and look-alike contests. The first, in 2005, drew about 3,000 fans. For the twentieth anniversary it came back for two days, on 26 and 27 July 2024.
The festival, its events and its return in 2024.
About 3,000 fans in 2005.
Preston and beyond
7 places you can visit. The three family homes and the egg farm are named but not mapped.
7 places you can visit in Preston, Franklin County and beyond. Private homes and the farm are not mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working high school. See the front from the street; don’t go in during the school day.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working thrift store on the main street; go in and look round. Donations go to the street behind.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An upstairs room on the main street. Look from the pavement; it is not open to visitors.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working bowling alley with a grill. In 2023 it opened Monday to Saturday, 11am to 8pm; ring ahead. The photograph is the highway through downtown, not the alley.
151 East 200 South, Preston, Idaho
Napoleon’s school is Preston High School; the lockers were filmed here.
A working high school. See the front from the street; don’t go in during the school day.
36 South State Street, Preston
Napoleon buys his prom suit here, off the mannequin, and a dance video.
A working thrift store on the main street; go in and look round. Donations go to the street behind.
12½ North State Street, Preston
Kip and Napoleon sign up for Rex’s self-defence classes here.
An upstairs room on the main street. Look from the pavement; it is not open to visitors.
411 South Highway 91, Preston
Kip and Uncle Rico plan their business venture here.
A working bowling alley with a grill. In 2023 it opened Monday to Saturday, 11am to 8pm; ring ahead. The photograph is the highway through downtown, not the alley.
Stay
Pools, rooms and cabins five miles north of Preston.
Riverdale Valley
Formerly Riverdale Resort, five miles north of Preston in the Riverdale Valley: four natural mineral pools, with hotel rooms, cabins and RV and tent sites.
See the springsGo there
The thrift store, the bowling alley, the dunes, and marketplace tours down the valley.
Preston
The thrift store where Napoleon buys his suit, still trading at 36 South State Street. The smallest of the chain’s stores, with old-style window displays.
Read about the storePreston · Monday to Saturday, 11am–8pm (2023) · ring ahead
The alley where Kip and Uncle Rico plan their venture, with Hawaiian barbecue from the Island Bowl Grill and the film’s photographs on the walls.
Read about itSt. Anthony · $10 a day · camping extra
Public land eight miles west of St. Anthony: 10,600 acres of white sand, with a campground at Egin Lakes. The big dunes close from 1 January to 1 April.
Plan a visitCache Valley
Live marketplace results for the valley south of Preston, round Richmond and Logan. None is about this film.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
The last festival was in July 2024; nothing is announced for these places.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
The shooting script in paperback and the 2004 soundtrack.
Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess
The final shooting script, published in paperback by Simon Spotlight Entertainment in March 2006.
Find the bookVarious artists · CD, 2004
The 2004 Lakeshore Records soundtrack album.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 12 of 12 Moments
151 East 200 South, Preston, Idaho
Napoleon’s school scenes, lockers included, were filmed at Preston High School.
Jared Hess went to Preston High, graduating in 1997; parts of the film come from his time there.
800 North Road, outside Preston
Napoleon lives with Kip and their grandma in a house on 800 North Road outside Preston.
South 2nd East, Preston
Napoleon tries a jump on Pedro’s bike outside Pedro’s house.
Parkinson Road, south of Preston
Pedro leaves a homemade cake outside Summer Wheatly’s house.
36 South State Street, Preston
Napoleon buys his prom suit off the mannequin, and a dance video, at Deseret Industries.
12½ North State Street, Preston
Kip and Napoleon sign up for Rex’s classes in an upstairs room on North State Street.
411 South Highway 91, Preston
Kip and Uncle Rico plan their business venture at Pop’n Pins.
South 4000 East, near Franklin, Idaho
Napoleon and others earn a wage moving chickens, filmed at Ritewood Egg.
190 South 200 West (Movie Locations: 200 East), Richmond, Utah
Kip tells Uncle Rico about LaFawnduh at Big J’s in Richmond, Utah.
A couple of miles east of Preston
Kip and LaFawnduh’s wedding was filmed at Lamont Reservoir months after the rest of the film.
Egin Lakes, eight miles west of St. Anthony, Idaho
Grandma breaks her coccyx riding on the St. Anthony Sand Dunes.
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