It’s Day 250 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. This was a very short drive to go just a bit farther east from Montreal. It took barely 20 minutes for me to go from the Cine-parc Boucherville, in Boucherville of course, to the Cine-Parc Mont St-Hilaire, in Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC of course.

The Ciné-Parc Mont St-Hilaire opened in July 1972, added a second screen in 1981, and has stayed in operation every year since. Those two screens are adjacent to each other at an approximate right angle. I can’t think of another double-screen drive-in I’ve seen with that configuration.

The drive-in has survived at least two fires. On the night of August 21 2010, thieves tied up an employee, stole the night’s proceeds and torched “the drive-in building” according to CTV News. No one was ever charged with that crime. One year later to the day, fire broke out on a Sunday afternoon in the main building and burned through the roof, as reported by Zone911.com.

After recovering from those fires, the Mont St-Hilaire worked through a more common issue, converting to digital projection. TVA Nouvelles interviewed then-co-owner Clément Longpré in 2012 about the upcoming off-season transition. “Les gens viennent nous voir et nous demandent si on va fermer à cause du numérique … On est là pour rester,” Longpré said. Google Translate says that means, “People come to see us and ask us if we are going to close because of digital … We are here to stay.”

In July 2017, Kevin Patenaude became co-owner of the Mont St-Hilaire. He told Les Versants that digital projection has led to an increase in customers. “C’est la même technologie qu’au cinéma, ce qui nous permet de commencer nos films plus tôt, avant la noirceur totale,” Patenaude said, which I hope translates to, “It is the same technology as the cinema, which allows us to start our films earlier, before the total darkness.”

Patenaude’s new acquisition was also featured in L’OEil Régional. “(J)e savais que le ciné-parc allait être vendu, j’ai sauté sur l’occasion. J’avais le goût de posséder mon entreprise dans le milieu du divertissement. Je me suis rendu compte que c’était ma passion,” he said. Again, I believe that’s at least close to, “I knew the movie theater was going to be sold, I jumped at the opportunity. I had the taste of owning my business in the entertainment business. I realized it was my passion.”

I’m so glad to have another YouTube drone video to embed here. It’s the longest one I’ve seen so far, and it shows just how remote this drive-in really is.

The Ciné-Parc Mont St-Hilaire is still open for a few more Fridays and Saturdays this season, but Thursdays are right out. I hope to find a few more weeknight programs in the weeks to come.

Miles Today / Total: 14 / 28677 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 160

Nearby Restaurant: For some gourmet burgers and beer in a fun setting that’s easy on the budget, my choice was Shack Attakk. My Hors-piste (off-road) burger had mushrooms, some maple-y bacon, and duck, I think. Add a “chic-choc” chocolate milkshake and some fries, and I had a perfectly tasty meal. I’ll eat healthy next time, honest.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Motel Le Transit is the closest hotel to the drive-in and seems to be the only hotel that is actually in Mont-Saint-Hilaire. My room had a fridge and free wifi. There was coffee in the lobby and a bar with video poker machines. For breakfast, there’s an adjacent McDonalds, and the price of the room left plenty of cash to get whatever I wanted. This motel is well-suited for a quick stop on the Trans-Canada Highway, and that was just what I needed.

Only in Mont-Saint-Hilaire: La Maison Amerindienne recognizes the Native American way of life in Quebec. On cultural Thursdays, it hosts guided tours through its exhibition featuring “son du tambour, un chant de bienvenue et une cérémonie de purification,” which is what I would call the sound of the drum, a welcome song and a cleansing ceremony.

Next stop: Cine-Parc Orford, Sherbrooke QC.

It’s Day 249 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I circled Montreal from the northwest to the northeast, from the Drive-in Saint-Eustache, in Saint-Eustache of course, to the Cine-parc Boucherville in Boucherville QC of course. The drive only took about 40 minutes.

The Ciné-Parc Boucherville was the first drive-in to open in Quebec in July 1970, but that wasn’t this Cine-parc Boucherville. Thank goodness for Mike Rivest’s Montreal Cinema History page and his note on a Cinema Treasures page, because this is very confusing. The old one, which closed in 1985, was just west of the Boulevard de Montarville at Route 20’s exit 95. The new one is just east of the Boulevard de Montarville at Route 20’s exit 95.

The current Boucherville opened as the Ciné-Parc Odeon, owned by Odeon Theatres, in 1974 with the same two screens it has now. It changed its name to Boucherville in 2006. This drive-in is still huge, with a capacity of about 2000 cars, and it’s still surrounded by acres of farmland.

From everything I read, what I can make out of it, the Boucherville is doing great. Daniel Séguin, general manager of Cineplex, which owns the drive-in, told Radio Canada in 2015, “Le goût d’aller au ciné-parc est souvent lié à la première visite quand on est jeune. On y est allé avec ses parents, et plus tard, on veut le faire découvrir à ses propres enfants.” Google Translate says that means something like, “The taste of going to the movie theater is often linked to the first visit when you are young. We went there with his parents, and later we want to make him discover his own children. ”

The YouTube video of the day show a fun-looking festival hosted by the Duval Scion car dealership in early 2011. There are just enough glimpses of the drive-in to make it worthwhile to embed here.

The Cine-parc Boucherville showed its final movies of the season last Saturday. This is the first time I’ve run into three dark days in a row since late May. I guess summer really is over.

Miles Today / Total: 32 / 28663 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 160

Nearby Restaurant: For one evening, I wanted to just stick around close to my hotel, but I found a real winner close by, Le Tire-Bouchon. I didn’t tell them that I thought the name sounded a lot like Tirebiter, and the food was much better than steel-belted rubber. The appetizer, entree and dessert were all one package price, so the columns I picked were green salad, duck magret, and Cru du Clocher cheese with walnut bread. Yum!

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Comfort Inn in Boucherville is a lot like most Comfort Inns in the states, and that’s a good thing. My room had the full set of modern amenities, and the hot breakfast in the morning was another Comfort standard. Just another solid place to stop for the night.

Only in Boucherville: This city is home to the Brasserie New Deal Brewing Co., a microbrewery that’s also a benefit corporation. That’s one of the three reasons I was happy to visit. The other two are fresh beer (of course) and the coincidence that it sits on the site of the original Ciné-Parc Boucherville.

Next stop: Cine-Parc Mont St-Hilaire, Mont-Saint-Hilaire 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.