Achi news desk-
For some Sailors, it is as sacred a ritual as the first swim of the summer; for others it is a brand new experience. The drive-in theater may not be as cultural as it used to be in the 1960s and 1970s, but many businesses are keeping the projector lights flashing as they prepare for what they hope will be busy season in the region.
“I think the public’s interest in drive-ins has increased in the last 10 years,” said Kirk Longmire, co-chairman of the Valley Drive-in in Cambridge Station, N.S. “It will never go back to the ’50s, but the nostalgia piece is huge. Going to the drive-in is one of those things you remember, you remember how it made you feel.
“It’s a lifelong thing. We’ve been doing it long enough that we have young people who worked with us in 2000 who have children and grandchildren of their own who are coming.”
Awakening a drive-in from hibernation is no simple task, especially for the Neptune Drive-in in Shediac, NB, which has been closed since August 2022. Sébastien Després is the new co-owner of the business, bringing the drive in under the banner of Shediac Wonderland.
Després said they have completely remodeled the cafeteria and plan to bring in Texas-style barbecue, which they hope to keep open year-round. They are looking at a soft opening on May 9 followed by an official launch on the Victoria Day long weekend.
“It’s a pressure of being responsible that I feel we have at the moment and we want to do well by the community,” he said. “The drive-in has been a mainstay in Shediac since the 60s.”
When it comes to mainstays, few places in the Maritimes can match the legacy of Brackley Drive-in on Prince Edward Island, which originally opened in 1959. Current owner Bob Boyle has been running it for 32 years and has seen for himself the regular ebb and flow. the flow of business, which underwent a major change during the pandemic.
“Times were tough during COVID-19, all the turmoil in Hollywood stopped the regular film production,” he said. “We never seemed to return to a normal film schedule. This is the first time since 2019 that it has looked like a more normal year.
“This is the first year in my 32 years in the drive-in business that I went to the drive-in convention in Orlando, Fla. It was a great exchange of ideas with many passionate drive-in owners. I have a notebook full of ideas I want to try.”
Don Monahan, co-owner of the Sussex Drive-in, which has been around since 1967, said the pandemic has helped bring some traffic back to the outdoor business as people want to see movies on a big screen while maintain social distance.
“During COVID it helped re-establish the importance of driving in,” Monahan said. “That drove attendance levels to a record high. A lot of people thought that ‘drive-ins’ were playing an old film but it’s quite the opposite.”
Longmire said they plan to make a few structural upgrades to the back of the screen while Monahan puts the projector through a few test runs to make sure the light bulb still works. A drive-in movie theater is much more open than its indoor counterpart, making maintenance and cleaning a big part of the opening process.
“When you put it to bed in the winter, there’s a lot of cleaning to do,” says Boyle. “There is debris to be picked up from the winter storms, general maintenance that needs to be done, it takes about two weeks.”
Many of the drive-ins are just days away from welcoming fleets of cars, vans and trucks to their lots for the new season. The Valley and Brackley drive-in sites open on May 3 while the Sussex Drive-in is looking at May 10 as their starting point.
“It’s like a tailgate,” Monahan said. “People show up early and they turn it into a little community event.”
