Sept. 11: Brackley Drive In, Brackley Beach PE

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It’s Day 254 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I had another four-hour drive, this time from Paquetville NB across the Confederation Bridge to the Brackley Drive In in Brackley Beach on Prince Edward Island.

The Brackley’s Our Story page says that the drive-in started as the Parkview in the “mid-1950s”. But none of my reference books from the 1950s made note of the Parkview even though they noticed the North River nearby. From at least 1963 through at least 1976 the Parkview was there, battling the North River and at least two other drive-ins to attract patrons on the small island. Eventually, they all closed.

Returning to Our Story, “In 1992, George, Linda and Robert Boyle of Winsloe, PEI purchased the drive-in and lovingly restored it to its original condition.” It’s currently owned and operated by Bob and Marcie Boyle.

Bob was interviewed just this August by the CBC after a lightning strike damaged the projection equipment a few days earlier. He and a technician thought at first it would be a simple fix, but it eventually turned out that everything that was connected to the internet at the time was damaged. “It just seemed day after day there was something new,” Boyle said. It was frustrating for a while, but everything got back to normal soon enough.

On my virtual visit, I just missed the busiest weekend of the year as It and Annabelle: Creation played to sold-out crowds. I’ll also miss the Halloween-like Trunk or Treat weekends that are coming up later in the season. On a Monday in September, I’m just glad to have such a lovely beach to experience.

Miles Today / Total: 221 / 29499 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 163

Nearby Restaurant: Richard’s Fresh Seafood is a local living legend. The lobster rolls are huge and, unlike a lot of places, packed with lobster meat. Mine came with fries and the unavoidable cole slaw, but a blueberry ale from the local Gahan Brewery washed down any objections I might have had.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Brackley Country Inn is adjacent to the drive-in; you can’t get any closer than that. My room had everything I needed except maybe a movie playing in its back yard on a Monday night.

Only in Brackley Beach: Prince Edward Island National Park is the beach in Brackley Beach. There are rolling hills, dunes, a small lighthouse, and acres of open ground just right for getting away from it all.

Next stop: Valley Drive In, Cambridge NS.

Sept. 10: Cine-Parc Satellite, Paquetville NB

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It’s Day 253 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I left a comfortable pit stop barely across the border in Madawaska ME and resumed the Canadian portion of my trip. Once across the St. John River, it took almost four hours of driving lonely, tree-lined highways to reach the Cine-Parc Satellite in Paquetville NB.

This is normally the place where I recount the history of my drive-in of the day. This time, I’ve got almost nothing to tell. Mike Rivest’s Movie-Theatre.org pretty much guessed that the drive-in was open from about 2002 to 2005, owned by Paul Marcel Albert. I’ve found other references that Albert owned the nearby Ciné-Parc Bellevue, which closed after the 2012 season, but nothing else linking him to the Satellite. And obviously, the Satellite must have reopened at some point, if it was ever closed.

My strongest source is a September 2012 article in Acadie Nouvelle, which says that the Satellite’s owner at the time was Gabriel Foulem. He was pondering the expense of switching to digital projection. “On est en période de réflexion,” Foulem said. “Tout le monde s’attendait à ce que (le passage au numérique) ait lieu en 2014. Puis là, subito presto, on nous dit qu’à la fin octobre (de cette année) il n’y aura plus de 35 mm.” Which might translate to “We are in a period of reflection. Everyone expected (the switch to digital) to take place in 2014. Then suddenly we are told that by the end of October (this year) there will be no more 35mm.”

I barely missed a meeting of the Mustang Owners Club of the Acadian Peninsula, which got together at the Satellite on Sept. 9.

The Satellite started a Facebook page in June 2013, and that’s where it posted the above video just last week. Maybe if you dive deep into all the posts and photos there, you might be able to uncover a few more clues about its origin.

And that’s about it. I’m not even sure what municipality claims the Satellite. It’s in a settlement / neighborhood / something called Bois Blanc between the villages of Saint-Isidore and Paquetville and just south of Paquetville Parish.

After a week in Quebec, I thought I had missed the opportunity of a French-language movie night, but I got it this night. Since this was my sixth viewing of The Hitman’s Bodyguard, it was pretty easy for me to keep up.

Miles Today / Total: 194 / 29278 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Mon Meilleur Ennemi (The Hitman’s Bodyguard) / 163

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurants are in Paquetville. Since I’d already used up my Tim Hortons visit, I chose La Crêpe Bretonne. The menu had a little bit of everything, but I was overdue for a healthy meal so I tried “Salade Bertha,” which came with vegetables, parmesan cheese and shrimp.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t any hotels really close to the Satellite, so I ended up in Caraquet, home to that closed Ciné-Parc Bellevue. I was glad to see a Super 8 there, a familiar sign in a foreign land. It had an indoor pool with a little corkscrew water slide, outdoor views of Chaleur Bay, and a clean room with a full set of modern amenities. The continental breakfast was enough to get me going for another Canadian day.

Only in Paquetville Caraquet: The Super 8 is across the street from Musée Acadien, a small-town museum dedicated to the history of Caraquet Acadia. It’s inexpensive, and it’s all in French. Thank goodness for Google Translate on my phone.

Next stop: Brackley Drive In, Brackley Beach PE.

Sept. 9: Skylite Drive-In, Madawaska ME

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Skylite Drive-In movie poster "marquee"

Photo from the Skylite Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 252 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. As much as I dislike border crossings these days, it only made sense to stop over on my way from Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC to New Brunswick at the only drive-in within walking distance of the Canadian border, the Skylite Drive-In in Madawaska ME. The drive took a solid five hours, not counting time at the border.

Once upon a time, there was the Madawaska Drive-In. It opened in 1952 or so and survived until at least 1969. Then in mid-1970s, there’s no trace of it. In 1978, a different owner either took over the old Madawaska or built a new one. In either case, that drive-in was on Highway 1 southwest of town. It operated at least until 1988, and the site was redeveloped between 1999 and 2007.

And actually, that whole story has very little to do with the Skylite, which opened in 1973 by a Mr. Pelletier. It was a little larger than the Madawaska, if that still existed when the Skylite opened, and the two were definitely competitors into the 1980s. Some sources were getting the two a little confused, which is why I brought it up.

The Skylite’s history, in contrast, is both clear and straightforward. As documented last year by the local newspaper, the Fiddlehead Focus, “Since 1983, Donna and Gary Pelletier have owned and operated the Skylite Drive-In on 11th Avenue in Madawaska. The couple purchased the business from his father, and the traditional summer entertainment venue is now in its fifth generation, with the Pelletiers’ 5-year old granddaughter Kaitlyn Ferree handing out cool-pops to patrons during the warm weather months.”

The Skylite waited until the last minute, early 2016, to install digital projection but that worked out well. The drive-in is open seven days a week, perhaps helped by the relatively early sunsets at the eastern edge of the Eastern time zone; on this night the one movie started before 7:30. That sounds doable even on a weeknight.

So I kicked back with the Skylite’s signature fried Oreo, enjoyed watching The House for the first time in a couple of months, and felt as northeastern as I could get. Until I cross the border and get even more northeastern next week.

Miles Today / Total: 334 / 29084 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The House / 162

Nearby Restaurant: Everyone told me that I had to try Dolly’s Restaurant, and they were right. The special was chicken stew and ployes, and they were amazing. Apparently there’s a French Canadian way to make that stew, and I had just dodged it somehow during my week in Quebec. And it turned out that Dolly’s is named for Odette Pelletier, who bought it in 1987.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t a lot of choices on this side of the border, though I was quite happy with the Inn of Acadia. My room had a mini-fridge and a Keurig, the wifi was solid, and the continental breakfast included ployes. I’d call them wheatcakes, but I guess they’re darker on one side like a crepe. I love local, tasty treats!

Only in Madawaska: Motorcyclists from across the US visit the granite monument in Four Corners Park marking it as the northeast corner of the country. The Four Corners Tour of the Southern California Motorcycle Club includes stops at San Ysidro CA, Blaine WA, and Key West FL.

Next stop: Cine-Parc Satellite, Paquetville NB.