Outdoor screen time

The first time I ever went to a drive-in theatre, I was spending a summer bumming around “lake country” in Ontario. We weaved through endless circles of corn fields, in my opinion, fully lost, before stumbling upon a rinky-dink screen in an open field. Besides parking, there wasn’t much else to encounter. I’d never gone to our Island’s drive-in before then, so I didn’t have much to compare it to. Cinematic expectations aside, of course.

Fast forward half a dozen years, and my now-husband asked me to Brackley Drive-In on our first real date. Ever since, it’s been an outing we try for every summer. It’s a fully nostalgic experience, and perhaps you’ve learned this about me: I lean all the way into that.

The 50s retro vibe that Brackley has restored itself to is immediately present as soon as you round the bend and hit the toll booth. Neon lights and vintage cars, people bundled into lawn chairs or lounging on blankets. Kids dancing on the stage pre-show is a personal favourite for me. I like to get there before sunset to watch the sky become a dreamy cotton candy hue conspiring with the electric pink and blues of the snack bar.

My favourite way to watch is with the seats laid down, piled full of pillows and thick comforters, the trunk wide to the night air. The mosquitos are thick though, so it’s a race for dusk and blood against them. I bought a piece of screen and a big bag of magnets years back. I plaster it across the open tailgate, which makes a decent shield against them till they eventually die back as the evening progresses.

In between films, the concession snack foods have their turn to dance across the screen and it’s the moths who flutter amongst the people and lights.

Just how your specific car lights operate is something you should get a handle on before the movies begin. I’ve personally been that annoying car who neglected to learn what I needed to do in order for my radio to remain on without my headlights also being on. I’ve also suffered through being in the car in front of that car, and it sucks! 

In case you aren’t aware, you dial into a specific radio station number while at the drive-in and the sound plays through your car. There are little reception posts located all around the parking area, and it also plays over speakers coming from the seventy-two-foot-wide screen for people sitting out in the open.

A few years back, they put up a second screen, increasing capacity and the number of films. One side seems to play a more PG-friendly duo while the other shows more intense pics. I don’t get down with scary movies unless I’ve previously been subjected to them—much to my partner’s dismay. I suppose he realizes now that choosing UP as our first film many years ago was a good call.