If you remember going to the drive-in as a kid and want to relive a piece of your youth, don’t put it off too much longer*. There are a lot of reasons for their demise in the 1970’s. And as I drove 45 miles to the Jefferson, Wisconsin, I could think of a few. For starters I was about to sit in a four passenger car with my brother and my two squirrelly nieces for four hours!! But I was wrong. It was a beautiful summer night at the Highway 18 Outdoor Theater and the girls were intrigued with the idea of sitting in the car (or on the grass) and seeing two movies for the price of one, enjoying ‘speakers on a pole’ under a sparkling canopy of stars next to a cornfield. Life seemed simple and it felt like heaven.
Some die-hards trust that the drive-ins will make a comeback. I can’t say. But I’m glad that the 18 Outdoor was recently restored and that I got a chance to share the experience with my two favorite girls. When was the last time you got to go to the movies in your pajamas?
*By the 1950’s, there were 3,775 drive-ins nationwide. Today there are less than 900.
Pictured: Chloe, the birthday girl, intently watching “Underdog”
