Photo from the Havelock Family Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 242 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my 17th in Ontario. I finally found a diagonal highway, cutting a good 10 minutes off an otherwise hour’s drive from the Port Hope Drive In, just east of Port Hope of course, to the Havelock Family Drive-In just west of Havelock of course.

Gord Henderson works full time for a concert hall in Toronto, but he found time to build and open the Havelock in 2011. He told the Trent Hills Independent that he’s wanted to open a drive-in ever since he was a teenager. “Life was getting in the way and eventually you’ve got to put the pieces together and here it is,” Henderson said. “I always felt that when you went to the drive-in it was a good feeling and when you left it was a good feeling. I thought if I’m going to do a job in my later years that’s where I want to be.”

The Havelock is an odd little drive-in, with room for just 75 cars but a large concession stand / projection / restroom building. Years after it opened, it still didn’t have any real marquee or other signage, but reviews on Facebook praise its spirit and cleanliness. One really great idea is mosquito screen rentals; I created my own with screen fabric and a magnet collection, but it’s nice to have it already available.

The Peterborough Examiner caught up with Henderson at the end of his second season, and he said he was still having the time of his life. He said he calls his approach “the four wows” of the big screen, FM stereo sound, that cleanliness, and the food. The staff will deliver pizzas to cars, and there are burger, hot dogs, and the other usual suspects available.

In June 2015, it was Peterborough This Week‘s turn to drop in on the Havelock. Henderson had upgraded to a digital projector and was looking forward to a season of better movies and better weather than 2014.

When Henderson retires from his full-time job, he’ll continue to run the Havelock, he told This Week. For now, it’s a way to recharge his batteries from work. “Some people go fishing, some people golf and I go to the drive-in,” he said. “The plan is to do this until I can’t see the screen anymore.”

Miles Today / Total: 40 / 28147 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Hitman’s Bodyguard / 156

Nearby Restaurant: The Havelock Garden Restaurant is another quirky little place. Its specialty is Chinese, but it also offers “Canadian food” such as burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, and French fries with gravy. I stuck with the house specialties, and was just a little sad that I wasn’t here for the weekend buffet.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The place to stay in Havelock is the Moonlight Motel just east of town on the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s another one of those well-maintained mom and pop kind of motels, set back from the road with trees and flowers in the front yard. My clean little room had a mini-fridge and microwave along with solid wifi. As far as breakfast and coffee go, any town with a Tim Hortons is a town where I’ll be just fine in the morning.

Only in Havelock: South of town in Campbellford, there’s an 18-foot wide toonie coin mounted eight feet off the ground. The monument honors Campbellford artist Brent Townsend, who created the polar bear image in its center.

Next stop: Mustang Drive-In, Picton ON.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbzAKe7JjQ

It’s Day 241 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my 16th in Ontario. Driving straight towards Lake Ontario, it took me an hour to drive from the community of Lindsay to the Port Hope Drive In, just west of Cobourg.

The Port Hope is about halfway between Cobourg and Port Hope, which explains why it began as the Midway Drive-In. Although some articles say it opened in 1952, others say it was 1947 and that it’s one of the oldest continuously operated drive-ins in Canada. In the early 50s, its owner was “Northumberland Drive-In,” and it could hold 500 cars. By 1959, Premier Theatres had moved in.

According to an article saved by Port Hope History, in January 1986 Premier sold the Midway and two indoor theaters to three men who lived in Seattle. Movie-Theatre.org listed the drive-in’s owners as A & M Sacco in 1990.

Then there’s some confusion about what this drive-in was called, and when. (I think the main problem was a lack of permanent signage. Old and new photos show the name only on letter boards.) Possibly it was the Saccos who later renamed it the Century Drive-In, as listed by DriveInTheater.com circa 2001. At some point before 2008, it was renamed the Port Hope, as shown by its Archive.org-preserved web site. But when a McGill University grad student visited in 2013, a Northumberland Today writer called it the Midway Drive-In.

The YouTube video of the day is a type I haven’t seen before. It’s a book trailer for a novel set at the Port Hope, or some similar drive-in. At least I think that’s what’s going on; I haven’t read the book, called Sorry, Celeste.

The snack of the night was “prings,” onion rings made like a poutine. The movie was Annabelle: Creation, the kind of scary film that works well at a drive-in even though it’s not my favorite genre.

Miles Today / Total: 46 / 28107 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Annabelle: Creation / 155

Nearby Restaurant: Once again my search for schnitzel was rewarded by a visit to the Matterhorn Restaurant. I got to experience a Gordon blue chicken schnitzel stuffed with ham and Swiss cheese. (I’d call it a cordon bleu, so it must have been a pun I didn’t recognize.) Add an apple strudel for dessert, and I was set for the rest of the day.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Best Western Plus Cobourg Inn was probably the best place to stay in Cobourg. My room had a refrigerator and wifi, my two essentials, and the hotel was close enough to a Tim Hortons that I didn’t need to buy the breakfast on site. It got me on the road that much sooner.

Only in Cobourg: Victoria Hall was opened in 1860 by the Prince of Wales. It was restored in 1983, and its second-floor concert hall holds plays and musical performances in an intimate setting. It’s a big, beautiful old building, and it’s nice to see it back to its original splendor.

Next stop: Havelock Family Drive-In, Havelock ON.

Photo from the Lindsay Drive In Facebook page

It’s Day 240 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my 15th in Ontario. Heading east northeast along the province’s amazingly perpendicular, though not compass-oriented, grid of highways, it took me a little over an hour to drive from the former village of Sharon to the Lindsay Twin Drive-In Theatre just east of the community of Lindsay. More municipality weirdness: Lindsay is the seat of the City of Kawartha Lakes, formerly Victoria County. How a community can be the seat of a city that used to be a county would take up a whole week of a Canada 101 course, and I still might not understand. But I digress.

The Lindsay has been around a very long time, so long that its origins are out of reach of the internet. It was around in 1953, owned by H. J. Ochs, and has probably been active ever since. From there it gets fuzzy until Larry Baxter enters the picture. According to his LinkedIn page, Baxter acquired the Lindsay in June 2000. In 2005, he told visitors from KarowPrime Films, “As long as we have sunsets, we’ll have drive-in movie theatres.”

The back of what had to be the original screen tower went through a lot of changes during Baxter’s ownership. As documented in a wonderful series of photos by Michael Poulton, it went from irregularly painted, possibly rusting metal panels (2002) to a painted uniform burnt yellow complete with name (2005), to a badly faded yellow (2010) to a bright painted red (2012). You really should check out the photos; the final result looks great.

In May 2015, Kawartha Lakes This Week announced that Danny Zita had purchased the Lindsay and was adding nostalgic elements to the grounds. Already the owner of the Owen Sound, Zita was contacted by Baxter to see if he wanted to add this drive-in. “Since taking over the business, Mr. Zita has improved the concession stand by updating appliances, adding a grill and cotton candy machine, and getting rid of the cafeteria counter concept. He’s also added amusement games, a kiddy ride and a free play jukebox.”

“Drive-ins are a fun place to be,” Zita said. “We want people to have a great time, make new memories and want to come back.”

Rather that watch The Hitman’s Bodyguard for the third night in a row, I actually chose The Nut Job 2. I was going to start a drinking game for every pointless sight gag, but since I needed to drive back to my room, I did it with Coca-Cola.

Miles Today / Total: 51 / 28061 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Nut Job 2 / 154

Nearby Restaurant: Lunch at the Durham Cafe was a nice reward for getting to town before noon. It was a day to eat healthy, so I tried the coconut chicken salad with almonds and mandarin oranges. That way I could save enough room for some tart lemon pie for dessert.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Days Inn in Lindsay has got to be one of the best of that entire hotel chain. It’s only been open for a couple of years, so everything still felt fresh. It has an indoor salt water pool. My room had a mini fridge and solid wifi. There was a hot breakfast in the morning. I wish that all Days Inns could be as good as this one.

Only in Lindsay: Just down the road in Peterborough, the crazy furniture trend continues. There’s a giant rocking chair in front of Craftworks at the Barn. Actually, it just looks like a rocking chair; it doesn’t actually rock. Considering what a rocking motion would do to any passenger that high up, maybe that’s a good thing.

Next stop: Port Hope Drive In, Cobourg ON.