Author Archives: mrdrivein

IN’s Holiday Adding A 6th Screen

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Here’s another positive sign: The owners of the Holiday Drive-In west of Rockport IN have installed a sixth screen. That’s today’s news from the Messenger-Inquirer, based just across the Ohio River in Owensboro KY.

I’ll admit that this news confuses me a little. When I made my virtual visit to the Holiday last April, I noted that it had added that sixth screen in 2016. Today’s news said that the final work on that screen was done by Tim Moseley, son of former owner Darrell Moseley, who passed away in 2016. There’s a present-day photo of a crane hoisting the screen into place, so I must have been wrong last year.

Anyway, the Messenger-Inquirer story said that the new screen had been “saved from the former drive-in in Henderson,” and that this was Darrell’s last big improvement planned for the Holiday, which he bought in 1978. There were at least three drive-ins in Henderson KY: the Audubon, the Hi-Y, and the Starlite, which was the last to close. Maybe that’s where Screen 6 came from.

Even better, the younger Moseley is adding another concession stand and associated rest rooms, which should all be open by next summer. Shorter walks to the bathroom are always welcome!

Two things you should check out: that Messenger-Inquirer article with photo, and Google’s Street View of the Holiday. Although it’s a decade old, there’s a virtual drive all the way through the drive-in property, showing the signs for all five screens. I wish we had a lot more like that!

Video: North Reopens As The Moon Lite

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The renovation project in Terre Haute IN, which I most recently mentioned in January, has come to a successful conclusion. The former North Drive-In, which was sitting idle for about 30 years, reopens this weekend as the Moon Lite Drive-In Theater.

The ribbon-cutting was captured by a news video by WTHI, Terre Haute’s News Leader, and I embedded that video above. It quoted owner Brent Barnhart, who said, “People who do go to (drive-ins) just love the experience. It’s something that’s a lot different than going to a traditional movie theatre.”

As described in an earlier article in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, Barnhart has lived in Terre Haute all of his life. Last year, he took over the Starlite Drive-In in Bloomington, and that experience led him to believe that a home-town drive-in revival would work. “Halfway through the first year in Bloomington, I thought we should pursue a drive-in in Terre Haute,” he said.

It’s great to see another renovated drive-in back in action. I hope it inspires others to do the same.

Video: Wind Knocks Down Weeks-Old KY Screen

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The Good News: The Sauerbeck Family Drive-In opened this August in La Grange KY.

The Bad News: Less than a month later, a windstorm blew down the Sauerbeck’s screen. The story was in the Louisville Courier Journal, which also supplied the embedded video above.

WDRB, Louisville’s News Leader, reported this week that the Sauerbeck was working with its insurer to rebuild the screen “but it could be ‘several more weeks’ before that happens.” They say they might try a temporary screen, but my guess is that the real answer is just to get a new screen up for Spring 2019. In October, high temperatures around there are only in the 60s, and it only gets cooler the rest of the year.

Until the drive-in reopens, at least we have a nice video slice of what the Sauerbeck looked like on Opening Day. Here’s hoping for much more of that next season!