Drive-in Movies, Live Shows Gain Popularity In N.B. Amid Pandemic
New Brunswick could see a revival of drive-in entertainment as physical distancing measures keep people out of movie theatres and live shows at indoor venues.
Jeff Keleher, director of Pocologan Productions, has teamed up with the Sussex Drive-In to host a live show on June 12. The line-up for Music & Comedy at the Sussex Drive-In, includes The Divorcees, Jamie Comeau & The Crooked Teeth and James Mullinger.
Nearly half of the tickets were sold just a day after Keleher made the announcement.
“They’re going quick,” he said.
Keleher and his family had spent months planning the Pocologan Camp Party annual music festival for this summer. The “counterculture” festival is a passion project for the family.
“When Covid-19 happened, basically, it took everything else from underneath us,” he said.
But they wanted to still offer up a fun community event, and the Pocologan team for this summer’s festival, which is now postponed to next year, was ready “to plug into something.”
Meanwhile, the Sussex Drive-In already has the infrastructure, recently upgraded gear and a Covid-19 operational plan ready for it to re-open, Keleher said.
“The idea is…to make it a series and to take the space and make it available to all of the different groups that need a stage. There’s your folk community, your traditional community, there’s punk rock, there are all these separate groups that are trying to do their own thing,” he said.
“Our vision for this is, if it’s successful and the model works, then we can start reaching out to these groups that are usually independent from one another to say, ‘hey, take your turn’.”
Keleher says a stage will be built under the screen, a camera crew will help project the show to the screen, and the audio will be transmitted to cars through the drive-in’s FM transmitter. There is capacity for just under 300 cars, he said.
To ensure physical distancing, people won’t be allowed to come early to have a picnic or have a tailgate party like usual. Attendees also can’t set up a seating area around their vehicles. Keleher plans to bring in extra volunteers to help ensure people maintain their distance.
There will be a canteen serving snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. But other than for that or the bathroom, attendees have to stay in their cars.
East Coast Amusements, which will offer pop-up drive-in movie theatres in Moncton, will have similar measures in place. Hub City Drive-In Theatre Manager Nathan Smithers said besides having masked-up staff to ensure people are maintaining their distance and disinfect washrooms more often, the cars will also have more space between them.
“The idea is at the drive-in, everyone’s in their car, so they’re in their own mini bubbles, but we’re going to spread those bubbles a little further. Existing drive-ins would have lost probably about half their capacity because of that,” he said, adding that Covid-19 has created a market for existing drive-ins like the ones in Sussex and Shediac.
East Coast Amusements usually host midway fairs and carnivals around New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. The drive-in theatre offering is a pivot that Smithers hopes will bring in some revenue to the company and provide jobs to its employees. The company is also offering contactless delivery of carnival snacks like candy apples, candy floss and others.
“Our normal season has been cancelled for all intents and purposes until restrictions are eased enough, and even if we could get out there and set up a reduced midway, it’s not what we normally would have,” he said.
Normally, operations would have started at the beginning of May in the Halifax region.
“We employ 60 people every season, and they’re all out of work right now. So we’re trying to find something that fits into the social distancing guidelines and offer some work for some of our employees…and raise some revenues for the company.”
Hub City Drive In-Theatre will show classic cult movies based on public demand, Smithers said, but they have a large catalogue to choose from and are open to hearing what viewers want. The tickets are sold per vehicle, at a cost of $30 each.
Smithers says the locations for these pop-up theatres will be announced shortly, with an aim to show the first movie on the weekend of June 12. He expects to bring in 150 cars a night, per the movie licensing agreements, although all of the locations he’s in talks to sign can accommodate more.
The company is waiting for equipment from British Columbia. That’s the most expensive investment in this pivot, Smithers said. Given that, if the model works, this could be a long-term offering for East Coast Amusements.
“We’re hoping to have great season and it could turn into something more permanent for sure,” he said. “We’re just trying to do whatever we can to generate some income for the company.”
In Fredericton, Delta Hotel also has a similar outdoor theatre offering for weekends. The Delta Driveway Drive-In includes dinner by Stmr.36 BBQ and Social and has sold out for three weekends in June already, according to posts on its Facebook page. The tickets cost $25 per adult and $15 per child, with four dinner options available for adults and three for children.
Much smaller than Pocologan and East Coast Amusements’ events, this drive-in only has 50 parking spaces available per night.