He’s already been warned by police, but a Grand Bend drive-in theatre owner is buckling up for a bumpy ride this weekend by vowing to open his COVID-19-closed theatre in defiance of the law.
Their projectors shut off and gates closed during the coronavirus pandemic, drive-in theatres in Ontario are pushing the province to be allowed to re-open as the demand grows for a night at the movies.
“I think they didn’t even think about us at all,” Allan Barnes, owner of the Starlite Drive-In, said of provincial authorities and their gradual easing of COVID-19 crowd restrictions to slowly allow some businesses to re-open.
“I do think when they think about drive-in theatres, they think about cinemas. They don’t think about outside, big open spaces,” he added.
The Starlite tried to open last Friday for a free double feature, with its washrooms and snack bar closed and its 300-vehicle capacity capped at just 100.
The OPP warned him that violates the social-distancing law, Barnes said.
Barnes, in turn, cancelled a planned screening the next night, but, despite the prospect of being ticketed, insists the show must go on and plans another double feature, also free, under the stars Saturday in the Lake Huron beach town.
Police are monitoring the situation, said Const. Jamie Stanley of the Huron OPP, noting any unauthorized gathering of more than five people violates Ontario’s emergency COVID-19 law.
Golf courses, marinas, parks – they've all been cleared to re-open, more than two months into the pandemic that ground much of the economy to a halt.
Even drive-in religious services, an issue that flared in Aylmer where a church defied warnings not to hold its parking lot services, leading to a weeks-long standoff with authorities, have now been green-lighted.
But drive-in movie theatres – people sitting in parked cars watching a giant screen, little different than drive-in worshipers sitting in parked cars listening to a sermon – have so far remained dark.
Drive-in owners have been lobbying the government for weeks to change that.
"I think we've been kind of overlooked and misunderstood in the sense that there's only 16 drive-ins in Ontario," said Brian Allen, president of Premiere Theatres. "They've got bigger fish to fry."
Allen's family has been in the cinema business for more than 100 years and runs the Mustang Drive-In in London, along with drive-ins in Barrie, Hamilton, Oakville and Newmarket.
While there might be no place like home to watch movies during the pandemic, demand for drive-in events has grown under the lockdowns imposed by COVID-19 safety precautions. Many see them as a perfect alternative, where groups can safely practice social distancing and stay inside their vehicles.
The Toronto Zoo plans to open a new drive-through experience this weekend, and an already booked-up drive-through Vincent Van Gogh art installation is making headlines.
"People definitely feel safe in their cars, psychologically, emotionally and actually," Allen said. "I think most people see drive-ins as a logical thing to be open."
He's planning for when his drive-ins can re-open, including reducing lot capacity by half to space out vehicles, enforcing physical distancing, going to an online ticketing system and laying on extra washrooms and pre-ordered concessions.
But the classic double bills, like Grease and Saturday Night Fever, or Back to the Future and E.T. aren't going anywhere right now.
"I want people to forget about their problems and watch a movie under the stars," Allen said.
Drive-ins dangle the simple pleasure of going to the movies, but there’s also the idea the outdoor theatres could be used for live concerts, special events or even graduation ceremonies.
In the meantime, Barnes isn't allowing existing restrictions to stop him from creating some movie magic at the Starlite. For $100, groups of five can book out the entire drive-in for their own private movie screening.
“I will do what we did 20 years, earn the respect and value of our customers one customer at a time,” Barnes said. “If that’s what it takes now, for the foreseeable future, I’ll deal with it."
Throwbacks to the heyday of car culture, Ontario's surviving drive-ins like the Starlite – a staple in Grand Bend since 1958 – have endured decades of change in how Hollywood blockbusters are consumed, from the arrival of cable television, to the home movie rental business and now online streaming.
To Barnes, taking a page from Tom Hanks in the movie Forrest Gump, part of the business is accepting that life is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get, from seasons with good films, to summers with bad weather and, now, even a pandemic.
Still, if the big screens can light up, a summer comeback is possible, he said.
“The drive-in is a nostalgic experience. We never went away, we’re still here."
Max Martin is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based out of the London Free Press.
