photo from the Midnight Movies Facebook page

It’s Day 143 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Driving from Kyle SK, it only took about three hours to reach Lumsden, current home of the Moonlight Movies Drive-In Theater. That was a different location that I had planned for when I drew up this trip last fall.

Here’s a question I’ve explored before: What is a drive-in movie theater? There are a few factors, but the most relevant to Moonlight Movies is that you do not need a screen tower but you do need a fixed, “permanent” location. Last year, Moonlight Movies had a screen tower, but for the 2017 season, they’re doing fine in a park.

According to Cinema Treasures, the Jubilee Drive-In up the road in Manitou Beach was built in 1951. That site has a permanent outdoor screen and an indoor 24-seat theatre. For at least the past several years, the Moonlight Movies folks ran the Jubilee. Then in February, Global News reported that they had been unable to get their lease renewed at the Jubilee, so they found a new place to show movies, at the River Park Campground in Lumsden. Moonlight Movies co-owner Shawn Barrett told CTV Regina, “Honestly, it’s a match made in heaven. It’s awesome out there.” The theater company signed a two-year deal with Lumsden.

At this time of year, Moonlight Movies is active only on Fridays and Saturdays, leaving me out of luck on a Tuesday night.

Miles Today / Total:  188 / 17241 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 63

Nearby Restaurant: At the Lumsden Valley Restaurant, you’re supposed to order pizza, so I did. Mine was just the way I like it, with homemade crust, a heap of toppings, and next to a beer. Sometimes the simple things are best.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The place to stay in Lumsden is, of course, the Lumsden Hotel, or as they call it, the Lumsden Hotel & Steak Pit. I was just glad to have a roof over my head, a comfortable bed, decent wifi and cable TV, and a bathroom to myself.

Only in Lumsden: If you get here in July or August, you might be able to check out the Lumsden Historical Museum. It’s made up of five pioneer buildings, a modern machine shed, a livery stable and blacksmith shop. Four of the pioneer buildings – church, house, school and community hall – contain artifacts that depict early district history. “Of special interest are our Bill Ogilvie Memorial Lily Garden and Arnie Robinson’s John Deere tractor collection.”

Next stop: Big Island Drive In Theater, Flin Flon MB.

photo by Canada Good, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 142 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I returned to Canada, driving almost seven hours (not counting the time waiting to cross at the border) almost due north from Billings MT to the Clearwater Drive-In Theater north of Kyle SK.

According to a YouTube video by Craig Baird, the Clearwater, named for nearby Clearwater Lake, opened in 1957. The original screen blew down in 1987. A post on BigDoer said the replacement screen came from “a closed drive-in found in another Saskatchewan town.”

(That BigDoer post includes a description of a typical night at the Clearwater, which happened to include a visit from the Northern Lights. And they have photos to prove it!)

Current owners Denise and Ken bought the place in 1988, upgraded to platters in 1999, then upgraded to digital projection in 2013.

At this time of year, the Clearwater is only open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays leaving me out of luck on a Monday night. But here’s that YouTube video to remind us what it looks like when it’s running.

Miles Today / Total:  417 / 17053 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 63

Nearby Restaurant: What do you expect at a place called Heidi’s Burger? Chinese food, of course. This humble little place on the main highway through town serves up some solid Shanghai noodles. There were a lot more items on the menu, but I can only eat so much at once.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There really isn’t a lot to choose from in remote Kyle, so I got a two-bedroom suite at the Kyle Hotel. It had a kitchen with a fridge and a microwave, and there’s a cafe on-site for breakfast. I was just glad to have a roof over my head and a bathroom all to myself.

Only in Kyle: On the north side of town in Kinsmen Park. there’s a 10-foot-high cement replica of a woolly mammoth. According to Big Things, the Monuments of Canada, “Wally” is a replica of the actual mammoth that was unearthed nearby in 1964 by a scraper blade during road construction. It was built in 1981 and restored in 2001.

Next stop: Moonlight Movies Drive-In Theater, Lumsden SK.

photo from the Starlight Drive-In web site

It’s Day 136 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. After my longest drive of the year, to the Park Drive-In Theatre in remote Prince George BC, it was time to drive back. The Starlight Drive-In Theatre south of Enderby made for a shorter drive, but only slightly; it still took seven and a half hours to cover 662 km.

The Starlight claims to have the largest drive-in screen in North America – 50 feet high by 120 wide. It may also be the only drive-in with an upper level for cars, as shown in the photo in this post.

According to a YouTube video, projectionist Paul Lindquist “noticed a run-down, abandoned movie theater,” in the early 2000s. “There were trees growing in the field, the fence was half blown over, the building was just a piece of garbage and dogs had been living inside,” he told The Globe and Mail. Lindquist found a couple of partners and “re-opened” the place in 2002.

Lindquist holds Carload nights on Thursdays in mid-season. Once he accepted a Greyhound bus full of passengers. “People said, ‘You’re nuts. Look at the money you’re losing.’ I said, ‘You’re nuts. Look at the fun I’m having.’ ” Now that’s the kind of healthy, confident attitude that makes customers want to keep coming back.

But for me, after all that driving, I was sad to find that the Starlight only shows movies on weekends this time of year. As it turned out, I just missed a special Thursday night event, the Third Wheel Car Show, which had a couple of hours of classic cars followed by a couple movies.

Miles Today / Total:  411 / 15527 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 61

Nearby Restaurant: At Fisherman Direct Seafood, they advertise BC’s Best Fish & Chips, and they may be right. In an unpretentious setting, two pieces of battered cod and fresh fries provided a meal that beat the fish and chips I ate in London. There was coleslaw involved, but sometimes you just can’t avoid that.

Where I Virtually Stayed: After two long days of driving, I was in the mood for some inexpensive pampering, so I went a little south to Armstrong and the Schubert Estate Bed & Breakfast there. There are only three guest rooms, but one was available for me at a very good rate. I had a king bed and my own bathroom and a flat-screen TV. I relaxed in the common library in the evening and started the day with a homemade breakfast.

Only in Enderby: A few miles northeast on the highway toward Revelstoke, you’ll find an The Enchanted Forest, with over 350 jolly folk art figurines, “BC’s tallest, grandest tree house” that rises 50 feet into the forest canopy, a giant cedar stump house, castle, dungeons and other surprises. It started as one couple’s 1950s retirement project, and was opened to the public in the 1960s.

Next stop: Auto-Vue Drive-In Theatre, Colville WA.