The drive-in just up the road from us has been run by the same man since 1966. I spent many evenings as a child there and I'm so happy that S has had the chance to experience it as well. Sadly, it looks like this may be the last summer that it will be open. A chain store has bought the land and is planning on building yet another one of their stores. There was an article in the paper where they interviewed the owner, and it stated that even if the chain wasn't planning on developing there, the owner doubted that they would be able to afford to keep it running, as it needs a new projector. If I remember the article currectly, a new projector was either $30,000 or something like $60,000. Well over their budget for replacing such an expensive piece of equipment. Drive-ins in the U.S. are few and far between these days. The state that we live in is lucky to have another about a hour from where we live. We have yet to go to that one, but hopefully it will be around for many years to come.
One of Sunny's favorite parts about the drive-in, other than getting to stay up way past her bed time, is that before the show begins all of the children gather on the hill under the screen to play until the sun begins to set. Depending on when you get there (we were the second car through the gate) that can mean playing and making new friends for a good hour or more. Besides her new little friend in the photo above, she was also pretty excited that she managed to stay awake for the entire movie. :)
I loved Drive-ins when I was a kid. As a teenager a group of us went to see a scary movie, I screamed and all my popcorn flew out the window.lol Sadly,they are another thing in the past.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story, it made me smile. :)
DeleteTrue, it's sad to see drive-ins disappearing everywhere.
They should be heritage listed and preserved for the public good. Surely not an outrageous amount of money for a town to come up with to protect a wonderful community space. They are great open space in built up areas, often the spot for a local market, makes me want to hunt one out this summer, very thin on the ground in Australia, although outdoor cinemas are growing in popularity.
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