Red's Crescent Drive-In

 The End of Winter is for Sure Now.  From May to October, what we are doing on the weekend depends in large part on what is listed on the program taped to the kitchen window. If the double feature at Red's is on our list, we won't be heading out of town. The movies they get there are later in their season than the cinema in town, but at $12 a carload and a $10 carload on Sunday, no-one minds too much if it is movies that will be out on video the following week.

 Knowing that the Drive-in movie has opened again, allows me the freedom of really believing that Winter is over. I love this old relic just down the street from my house. 


That is $12 for a carload (up to 10 people) for a double feature

 The speakers don't work as well anymore as having your own radio and tuning in to 102.9 FM or 700 AM. The concession stand has popcorn, hot dogs and fresh hot pizza, "$1 a slice while they last," but at the funniest moments there is the interruption over the speakers, "The Snack Bar will be closing in 15 minutes"

 Ok, I've seen folding chairs and sleeping bags, people sitting on the roof of their car and the back of their truck, but this week there was a plaid sofa up toward the front of the drive - in theater, and a bunch of young people playing catch around it as they waited for the movie to begin. The picture isn't very good, but the situation had me smiling

 No, they don't have a captive audience like the cinema, so the prices stay reasonable. They know you can come to the drive-in with a car load of Pizza and candy and they can't stop you, so their candy and hot dogs and pizza by the slice comes at an honest price and with smiles for most people, although when my family comes in they have been known to scream, "Oh No! It's the Goodes" because we tend order a lot and be slow making up our minds. ("What Minds?" I can hear them asking now.)

Looking around I found a cool blog about Drive-in movie memories. http://the60sofficialsite.com/Drive-In_Theater_Memories.html

 Waiting until dark to begin the movie and then showing a double feature has always made the employees and owners impatient to get the show going, so the previews begin before it is dark and if the first movie has a lot of dark scenes you miss some of the detail in the first half hour or so

When the movies are family friendly the place really packs them in, like last weekend with "The Lorax"

Remembering to take your foot off the brakes is more important drive-in etiquette than turning for cell phone off.

Last year a wind storm knocked a few panels of wood out of the Drive-in movie screen and the season was delayed for repairs. Tragedy, I tell you. 

Here the local kids sneak in through the bushes to watch from up front without paying. Before and between features there are games of frisbee or tag. There is underage drinking at times but also a lot of family fun. People used to gather on the grass beside their car but it was too easy for a late arrival to try to find an empty parking space and nearly park on a person in a lawn chair or sleeping bag. Now there is a white wooden railing and people on the lawn have to stay in front of it if they don't want to sit in their cars. 

The perimeter of the theater grounds are encouraged trees and blackberry vines, but if someone tries to park outside and watch for free from the wrong side of the fence, Red's sons have been known to broadcast such messages as, "Will the cheapskate in the green truck either come in and pay for the movie or leave.'

Projection booth on right, snack bar to your left

When Life Seems Colorless

When Life seems dull and slow and grey, and the rain keeps falling and the clouds won't go awaySometimes what I need is a Visit from a friend and a good dose of color to show that the world is full of wonder, warmth and welcome

 Then suddenly I can remember that there is such a thing as JOY

And that living in my reality

includes a lot of it.

 Hope springs eternal they say, but I say sometimes you have to clear away the deadwood to see the spring welling up

 Then that which seemed frozen and dead suddenly opens the buds that were there all along

 and lets you realize that you can make a wish and follow it and that the rain which seemed an assault of bleakness was really a refreshing rest before the spring rises up and floods the world with color, light and HOPE