Sept. 5: Drive-in Saint-Eustache, Saint-Eustache QC

It’s Day 248 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. My sojourn in Quebec continued. I drove an hour and a half east from the Templeton Drive-In Theatre in Gatineau to the Drive-in Saint-Eustache, in Saint-Eustache.

The Ciné-Parc Saint-Eustache opened in November 1971, less than two years after the province lifted its ban(!) on drive-ins. At the time, it was bilingual, with one screen showing movies in French and the other in English. In less than a year, it added a third screen, and in 1978 it added two more. The sprawling complex in this Montreal suburb is Canada’s largest drive-in and reportedly the largest outside the United States.

Like some large, flat, concrete-covered drive-ins in the US, during the day the ciné-parc also hosts a “marché aux puces,” literally a market of fleas. That market saw something I hadn’t heard of before – a fatal two-car accident in a drive-in parking lot, which happened in November 2008 according to Zone911.com. Then again, someone else spotted a UFO there a couple of years later, so maybe it’s just one of those places where normal physics don’t always apply.

The Saint-Eustache made the transfer to digital in 2012. Brigitte Mathers, president of the Mathers Group, which owns the drive-in, told L’Écho de la Rive-Nord, “Il y en a quelques-uns qui décident de ne pas investir. On parle d’environ 100 000 $ par écran.” Or as Google Translate put it, “There are a few owners who will decide not to invest. We’re talking about $100,000 per screen.”

By all reports, those investments are paying off as movie-goers are rediscovering the benefits of a drive-in in Quebec as they are elsewhere.

The Vimeo video of the day spends most of its time talking with folks waiting for the movie, but the first minute provides a nice glimpse into what this place looks like.

These days, almost all the movies they show here are in French, but dark screens are the same in any language. At this time of year, the Saint-Eustache is only open on Friday and Saturday nights.

Miles Today / Total: 93 / 28631 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 160

Nearby Restaurant: With all this Frenchness around, I wanted to duck in to a little bubble of America, so I had dinner at the Texas Star, which happens to be owned by the same company that owns the drive-in. A rib eye steak and salad hit the spot, and the margaritas helped me feel even more at home.

Where I Virtually Stayed: One of the closest hotels to the ciné-parc is the L’Oasis de l’Ile, an amazing little hideaway on a private island in the Rivière des Mille Îles (River of a Thousand Islands), a channel of the Ottawa River. I relaxed in the outdoor pools in the afternoon and enjoyed a continental breakfast in the morning. It was just amazing that this was a short drive away.

Only in Saint-Eustache: Just over the river in western Montreal, the Gibeau Orange Julep restaurant is a 40-foot diameter orange. Wikipedia says Hermas Gibeau built a slightly smaller orange concrete sphere in 1945 where he sold Gibeau Orange Julep, a drink similar to Orange Julius. The restaurant and its orange sphere were rebuilt larger and further back from the roadway when it was widened as the Décarie Expressway in 1966.

Next stop: Cine-parc Boucherville, Boucherville QC.

Sept. 2: Port Elmsley Drive-In Theatre, Perth ON

It’s Day 245 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my 20th in Ontario. Despite the Labour Day Weekend traffic, it took just over an hour to drive from Kingston to the Port Elmsley Drive-In Theatre, just west of Port Elmsley, about halfway between Smiths Falls and Perth.

I’m fortunate to have two very good history sources for the Port Elmsley. The blog of Arlene Stafford-Wilson, author of Lanark County Chronicle and several other books, and the drive-in’s web site’s History page combine to flesh out a lot more details than I’ve found for a lot of drive-ins.

First, the beginning. The drive-in site says says that there’s a legend that Bill Williams won the 10 acres that the drive-in sits on in a poker game. Stafford-Wilson cites The Perth Courier in writing that construction of the Port Elmsley was under way in September 1952, and it opened in May 1953. But, according to the drive-in site, it “closed a couple days later as the land was so marshy that dozens upon dozens of cars got stuck opening weekend.” After adding a whole lot of gravel, the problem was solved.

The Williams family owned and operated the Port Elmsley from its opening until the end of the 1997 season, when it shut down. It stayed dark until Jan Stepniak bought the drive-in in 2000. Dave Bird and his family bought it in 2007 and converted to digital projection in 2012.

Bird told CTV Ottawa, “Growing up as a kid I think I took them for granted like everyone else, it never occured to me that they’d disappear or go away,”

If you want to see what the Port Elmsley looks like, I’d recommend a 2011 post at the Lord of the Wings blog. It describes a night at the drive-in with over a dozen photos. Note for US readers: Pogos are the Canadian brand name for corn dogs.

Miles Today / Total: 59 / 28321 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Nut Job 2 / 159

Nearby Restaurant: I enjoyed an unpretentious tasty lunch at the Rocky River Cafe in Perth. A half-pound Rocky burger and some French onion soup fortified me against the chilly, overcast day.

Where I Virtually Stayed: It’s always nice to find a small motel that has everything I need and helps me stay in my lodging budget. The Tay Inn faces the Trans-Canada Highway and looks like just another old-style motel, but it’s very nicely maintained. My room had the full set of modern amenities, and with a Tim Hortons across the street, I didn’t have any problem with breakfast.

Only in Perth: A stone house built in 1840 for a senator in Canada’s first parliament has been converted to the Perth Museum. The ground floor features rooms set in period detail, but the third floor includes an array of minerals and fossils.

Next stop: Skylight Drive-In, Pembroke ON.

Aug. 31: Mustang Drive-In, Picton ON

It’s Day 243 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, (I’m 2/3 of the way through!), and my 18th in Ontario. It took an hour and a quarter to drive from Havelock to the Mustang Drive-In, a few miles west of Picton.

The Mustang opened as the Picton Drive-In in April 1956. It changed its name to the Mustang around 1970, give or take a year or two. It was a single screen with room for about 350 cars.

The modern story of the Mustang is the story of Paul Peterson. As detailed in a wonderful, long article in the National Post, Peterson was working as a counsellor for young offenders and youth in crisis. While driving with his wife in the summer of 1988, took a shortcut. The couple saw the neglected drive-in – “the word ‘abandoned’ would be appropriate,” he said while telling this story – and noticed it was for sale. Peterson pulled over and said to his wife, “Wow, that’d be cool, let’s buy it.”

Peterson said he knew nothing about running a drive-in, and he had a lot of work to do. He had to spruce up the place physically, and he had to change its clientele. “The drive-in Paul inherited, to hear him tell it, was a regular Gomorrah.” After seeing the problem for himself, he took out an ad in the Picton Gazette stating, “The Mustang Drive-In now has a zero tolerance policy for alcohol.” The throng of partiers left, and after a good while, families began to return a few at a time.

The Mustang added a second screen in 2004 and digital projectors around 2015. “We’re digital now,” Peterson told the Toronto Star that year. “That’s changed. That means we’re poor. But really, it’s the same. Lots of fun.”

It takes a character to build a drive-in of character. Based on recent photos, they added the Mustang name to the screen tower less than 10 years ago. The ticket booth is a repurposed city bus. And there’s the honking ritual. As the Post put it, one night Peterson “stood in front of a lot full of cars with a microphone in his hand and said, ‘Look, you’re going to honk at me anyway, so you might as well do it now.’ The place erupted like a wedding convoy. ‘They did it and they loved it,’ Paul told me. ‘Every night since then we’ve honked. It was kismet.’”

Miles Today / Total: 60 / 28207 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Nut Job 2 / 157

Nearby Restaurant: Unlike me, the Crepe Escape spells the name of that delicate pastry with a circumflex over the first e. That attention to detail illustrates how serious these folks are to dishing it up right. I enjoyed a ham and cheese crepe for lunch, followed by a chocolate and blueberries crepe for dessert. I saved some of it to nibble on while I watched the movie.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Picton is the kind of place with historic lodging reflecting its long history. I’m not sure how long the Picton Harbour Inn has been around, but it’s being nicely renovated and offers a price closer to my budget for this odyssey. My top-floor queen room had a comfy bed and good wifi, plus a great view of the harbor.

Only in Picton: In the middle of Picton, halfway between a Dollar Store and a Tim Hortons, is the Un Gallery, a store with “Affordable Art that everyone can enjoy!” It offers paintings, jewelry, sculpture, and lots of other stuff, mostly from eastern Canadian artists. The selection changes often, but it’s always eccentric, quirky and fun.

Next stop: Kingston Family FunWorld, Kingston ON.