Category Archives: Tennessee

Video: Memphis Celebrates Malco Summer

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As the days get longer, we’re starting to get another yearly round of appreciation stories for local drive-in theaters. Today’s is from WATN, Memphis’s News Leader, as it celebrates the Malco Summer Drive-In with a brief interview with David Tashie, Malco’s Senior VP of Construction.

I wish that WATN had included more video. Except for Tashie’s remarks, delivered from indoor theater seats, this is really a slide show. And a lot of those slides came from Cinema Treasures‘ contributors. But I think this clip is worth watching just to see the classic Volkswagen beetle atop the Summer Drive-In sign and to hear some of that story from Tashie.

If you’d like to read a little more about the Summer, check out my virtual visit there during the 2017 Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey.

Video: Parkway Hosts Halloween Fundraiser

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The Parkway Drive-In Theatre in Maryville TN is holding a Trunk or Treat night this Saturday with a double feature of Casper and The Goonies. The best part of this event is that it’s designed to raise money for a homeless outreach charity there.

WBIR, Knoxville’s News Leader, ran a nice little news story about the upcoming event which benefits Family Promise of Blount County. Although the story says this is the first year of what they hope will become an annual event, the news video shows clips of a past Trunk or Treat. Maybe that one wasn’t for charity? But I digress.

At any rate, it’s always nice to get a video postcard of what a particular drive-in looks like these days, and it’s great to hear the locals happy to have it there. If you’re in the neighborhood, it sounds like some great fun for a good cause.

TN Church Built Its Own Drive-In

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A small group sitting in front of a small drive-in movie screen

Photo from the Cornerstone Drive-In Facebook page

During the winter doldrums, I’m catching up on some of the stories I didn’t get to during the long Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey that took up most of my time last year. One of those is about a church in Scotts Hill TN that illustrates my definition of a drive-in theater.

In May 2017, the Cornerstone Church built its own drive-in screen and started showing faith-based movies on Friday and Saturday nights. Admission was free and open to the public, and there was a concession trailer with popcorn, drinks, hot dogs and burgers. In July, the operation was profiled on WBBJ, Jackson’s News Leader, in a video that I couldn’t embed here. The drive-in continued showing films on weekends until closing its season in mid-October.

“Teenagers can take their girlfriends on dates here for free instead of having to worrying about asking their parents for money,” Cornerstone’s Joanie Gant told WBBJ. “The parents don’t have to worry about what they’re seeing because they know it’s going to be a faith based film.” There’s a good picture of the full screen at the Lexington Progress.

As I wrote over a year ago, a drive-in is any outdoor theater at a fixed location where members of the public can drive their own cars in to watch a movie on a recurring basis. The Cornerstone is unconventional, but it fits the definition as well as the Blue Starlite or the Apache. Once it opens again in 2018, I’ll need to add it to my official drive-in list.