It’s Day 289 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. The scenery was more farmland than forest as I drove for an hour from the Midway Drive-In Theatre, just south of Minetto, to the Finger Lakes Drive-In, a few miles west of Auburn NY.

The Finger Lakes may be the oldest continuously operating drive-in in New York. Its first newspaper ad was for July 15, 1947, and its grand opening was apparently later that month. My reference books all say that Don Wilson was the owner back then, perhaps with Anthony DeNiro. It opened without in-car speakers, according to the magazine Life In The Finger Lakes. “The Finger Lakes Drive-In once had high volume speakers, but the sound reportedly bothered cows in the area.”

By 1978, the owner name in the reference books lists had changed to Fields, which must have been Paul Field, the guy that NewYorkDriveIns.com says built the Finger Lakes. Field also owned Auburn’s other drive-in, the East, and famously operated a circus train there to entertain kids in the 1970s.

The Ithaca Journal of Aug 25, 1971, mentions a charity fundraiser at the “Feocco Finger Lakes Drive-In”, which complicates this ownership history. The Aug 2, 1992 Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester said Frank Feocco bought the business in 1986. He was 80 years old while running the Finger Lakes in that 1992 story, so he was easily old enough to be involved with the place in 1971. Feocco’s 1996 obituary said that he owned and operated the Finger Lakes for 12 years.

The next owner we read about is in that magazine article, published in summer 2002. It said that this was Kevin Mullin’s seventh season, having purchased the Finger Lakes from Feocco’s widow in 1997. “Today the Finger Lakes Drive-In still has speakers on poles which are kept in good working order by 16-year old Brett Mullin, Kevin and Cindy’s oldest son who admits he loves spending summers at the drive-in.” Mullin was still owner when NewYorkDriveIns last updated its listing in 2009.

At some point, Paul Meyer bought the Finger Lakes and helped bring it into the 21st century. After a modest fundraiser, he leased a digital projector in July 2014, telling the Auburn Citizen, “That (donated money) got us through this season. It’s appreciated and touching.” Before the 2016 season, he expanded the screen to almost twice its previous size, now 106 feet by 50 feet raised 25 feet off the ground. And the Finger Lakes now uses FM radio sound.

The embedded YouTube video of the day has some nice drone shots, and I also like the low-level look across the ticket booth toward the screen.

The drive-in ended its 2017 season at the end of September, leaving me without a movie on a rainy, cold October night.

Miles Today / Total: 43 / 33202 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 180

Nearby Restaurant: It’s a diner and a Greek place, and Pavlos’ Restaurant is just a great place for a late breakfast. All you can eat pancakes, plus some bacon and eggs and potatoes and all the coffee you can drink – what a deal! I can drink a lot of coffee.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I felt a little guilty passing up some nice-looking smaller local hotels, but there was the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn, and I just couldn’t resist. There was lemon water are cookies waiting at check-in. My room had the full set of modern amenities including a Keurig coffee maker. A very nice breakfast was free for me as a Hilton Gold member. Yes, there are reasons I like this place.

Only in Auburn: As recounted by Living On Earth, hundreds of thousands of crows invade Auburn every winter. No one knows exactly why the birds come here, but the scene they create – and the mess – has residents divided over whether to embrace the crows or drive them out. Many of the crows congregate around Fort Hill Cemetery, so some folks believe it’s an omen.

Next stop: Silver Lake Twin Drive In Theatre, Perry NY.

It’s Day 288 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It took about an hour and a half to drive from the Black River Drive In just northeast of Watertown NY to the Midway Drive-In Theatre, just south of Minetto, halfway between Oswego and Fulton NY.

According to the drive-in’s web site, the Midway opened in the summer of 1948, built and operated by brothers Ruben and Irving Canter. (Ruben was the one whose name always appeared in the drive-in lists of the day.) The web site says the Midway was sold to Charles Girrard and Anthony Kolinski, who owned the Atko Canton Corporation, in the late 1960s.

Since then, the story of the Midway was the story of John Nagelschmidt V. In 1961, while in high school, started working at the Midway. The job helped pay his way through college at Oswego State, where he majored in earth science and physics. That degree led to his 30-year career as a science teacher at G. Ray Bodley High School in Fulton. He retired from teaching in 1996.

During the summers, John V managed the Midway until he was offered the chance to buy it in 1987. He and his wife owned it ever since. The Oswego student magazine wrote in 2011 that the 67-year-old was still doing pretty much everything. “He orders and picks up supplies, chooses movies, does the advertising, keeps the books and performs maintenance at the theatre. ‘But I never go to work,’ he says. ‘When it becomes work, I’m done!'”

The Midway needed help from the community a few years later, but not because of digital projection. John V took care of that himself, but not long after in July 2014 a microburst totalled the old wooden screen hours before the drive-in was set to open. No one was hurt, but the replacement cost more than insurance would cover. Patrons and friend came together, and a steel replacement went up.

“Very rarely will I call in a contractor,” John V told the Oswego. “I like to do things myself. That’s probably why I got into physics at Oswego — it kind of makes the world go round.” Sadly, that led to the accident in April 2017 when he was working alone with an unfamiliar backhoe tractor. “He ran himself over accidentally,” his son, John Nagelschmidt VI, told WSYR, Syracuse’s News Leader. “He was off the seat in front of the tire and it went over him.” John V passed away from his injuries.

It took a few months to figure out all the pieces that John V had handled, but John VI and sister Heidi Nagelschmidt put it all together and reopened in July. “It’s been a little difficult because he didn’t share much of that with us,” John VI said. “He was an individualist and he liked to do things on his own.” There’s a good video that goes with that story, so you ought to go watch it.

Another good video is the embedded video of the day from WSTM, Syracuse’s News Leader. It commemorates the reopening of the Midway under the management of John V’s children. It’s both a message of hope and a time capsule to show what the place looked like earlier this year.

There was a triple feature showing this night, though I only count the first movie. It was my second round with Mother!, and I was just happy that the Midway was open and operating on a Sunday in the middle of October.

Miles Today / Total: 65 / 33159 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Mother! / 180

Nearby Restaurant: For another classic business, I dropped in to Wade’s Diner for a late breakfast in Oswego. The restaurant has been around since 1938 when it was in an actual pullman dining car. Now it has huge pancakes, amazing cinnamon bread, and lots of coffee. Did it have all of these things 80 years ago? Maybe that’s how it stayed popular all this time.

Where I Virtually Stayed: It turns out that the closest hotels to Minetto are in Oswego, where I tried my luck again at a Home2 Suites. Even though it’s really designed for extended stay visitors, they were okay with my one-nighter. My room had a full-sized refrigerator, breakfast had some meat to go with a full set of continental supplies, and the laundry room had a workout area. It’s just a little unusual, but it’s all good.

Only in Minetto: The Midway isn’t the only thing between Fulton and Oswego. There’s also the Oswego Canal, which opened in 1828, three years after the Erie Canal was completed. It connects the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario, and according to NYCanals.com, it was “one of the few canals built that was economically successful, largely in part because it allowed trade between the Atlantic Coast and and the raw-material-rich Canada.”

Next stop: Finger Lakes Drive-In, Auburn NY.

It’s Day 280 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It was nice to have a really short drive for a change, barely 40 minutes from the Hollywood Drive-In Theatre, northwest of Averill Park NY, to the Malta Drive-In Theatre, in Malta NY of course.

Out in front, the Malta has its own historical marker. It reads: Malta Drive-In Signs / Open-air theater started in 1949 by Sarto and Leona Smaldone, drive-In purchased in 1988 by brothers Ed and Tom Caro, in operation for over 50 years.

But that’s not all the history we can find for this drive-in, which opened as a single-screen. There’s a gold mine of information in the Saratogian‘s 2006 obituary for Leona. Her sons Bill and Ron said “that their mother had as much or more to do with building the drive-in as their father.” Bill said it took a lot of work to fill in the field off Route 9 and level it for the drive-in. His mother was out there every day, directing workers and driving the project even when Sarto became discouraged. Sarto, who was mayor of Saratoga Springs for two terms (1970-73), passed away in 2002 at the age of 97.

The Smaldones sold the Malta in 1977, and the Caros are the drive-in’s third owner. So who was in the middle for at least a decade and didn’t rate a mention on the marker? Christopher Bietka was the manager in a June 1986 newspaper article. That’s the only clue I could find.

So now we turn to the current owners, brothers Tom and Ed Caro. Before purchasing the Malta, Ed managed the Greenville (NY) Drive-In. After they bought the Malta, the brothers built a second, year-round business adjacent to the drive-in, The Furniture Theater, that was active until just a few years ago. They added a second screen for the 2008 season, and Tom told the Saratogian, “A business that’s been doing the same thing for almost 60 years to almost double itself is exciting.” They also increased the restroom size to handle the additional customers.

The next major change came after the 2012 season when the Malta upgraded to digital projection. In an interview with the Ballston Journal, Ed said they had to insulate both projection booths and hook up to the internet. With the new equipment in place, the Malta is ready for more decades of continuous operation. “We’re committed to running the drive-in for a long time.”

The YouTube video of the day is a time capsule of a visit to the Malta in 2003 when it still had just a single screen. Though I must caution you, if anyone asks how old you are, tell the truth, okay?

I was really excited about seeing the Blade Runner sequel on its opening weekend. Add some standard concession stand snacks and a bottle of Saratoga sparking water, and I was ready for a great Saturday night at the show.

Miles Today / Total: 33 / 32643 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Blade Runner 2049 / 176

Nearby Restaurant: At Carson’s Woodside Tavern, the view is as important as the food. With a fireplace inside, the windows looking out at Saratoga Lake provide a great atmosphere, although the college football on the TVs also caught my attention. For lunch I had a simple turkey and swiss sandwich and a tossed salad. And a beer, because this is a tavern after all.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I found another one of those hotels set up for folks to stay a couple of weeks or one nights. The Home2 Suites in Malta provides full kitchenettes in the rooms, a patio with a fire pit, an indoor pool, and a combination laundry / workout room. The breakfast bar in the morning was an interesting take on the standard hotel provisions.

Only in Malta: In nearby Saratoga Springs, where the Malta’s founder was mayor, they have the Saratoga horse racing track and the long-titled National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. There are statues of Secretariat and Seabiscuit and a long row of those little jockey statues, each with different colors. It’s a great place to look around, as long as you like horse racing.

Next stop: El Rancho Drive-In Theatre, Palatine Bridge NY.