Old drive-in theaters finding success with family-focused enter

WALNUTPORT, Pa. -- More than two hours before the movie began, families lined their truck beds with blankets and set out lawn chairs for an evening of tailgating, tossing footballs and visits to the playground.

The line for popcorn, soda and chili dogs at the concession stand was almost as long as the string of cars snaking out onto the highway, waiting to find a space at Becky's Drive-In.

By 9:30 p.m. on a recent Friday night, Cindy Deppe and her brother Darrell Beck -- whose family has kept Becky's open since 1946 -- were turning cars away.

Not a bad night in a business many feared was dying just a decade ago.

Gone are the old car-side speakers, although one hangs for sale for $20 above the candy rack. Like people at most drive-in theaters today, Becky's moviegoers tune into the movie on FM radio -- or pop open the backs of their SUVs and listen to the movie over their sound systems while they sit on the lawn.

The blend of nostalgia with modern movie technology draws patrons from New York, New Jersey, and all over eastern Pennsylvania to the Northampton County theater, roughly 70 miles north of Philadelphia.

Those who make the trip say the drive-in is worth the distance.

"It's the only drive-in near where we live," said Adrienne Pollner, 15, whose family drove an hour from Phillipsburg, N.J. "It's a great way to get away with friends and family," she said, looking up from a card game with her twin sister, Susan.

"It's a tradition to come to the drive-in," said their mother, Joni Pollner. "When they were little, we put them in their pajamas and by the time the second movie came on they were asleep. My parents did that when we were kids. They'll remember this when they're grown up."

Becky's is one of approximately 430 drive-ins currently operating in the U.S., said Randy Loy, executive director of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.

While nowhere near its heyday of more than 4,000 drive-ins in 1958, the 13 new theaters that have opened since 1990 signal a business that is regaining some momentum.

Many drive-ins disappeared from major cites due to rising land values and development, but in smaller towns they hung on by also running flea markets, mini-golf, restaurants and hay rides and cornfield mazes in the fall.