OTTAWA -- The Skylight Drive-In in Pembroke is expecting one of their biggest seasons ever this summer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drive-in opened Friday night, selling out all of their online tickets by Thursday after opening the online service on Tuesday.
Owner Kevin Marshall says the trend is looking to continue the rest of the weekend, “(Friday) afternoon we had sold out for Saturday night, and the tickets have really exploded now for Sunday which is typically one of our slowest nights. And also for Thursday as well.”
Even with physical distancing measures of two metres between cars in place, Marshall says they packed in as many people as they could on opening night.
“We had 140 cars give or take. Most cars just had two people, but some of them had up to five or six people. So I would guess we had somewhere around 500 people here in about 150 cars.”
Despite the expected record business, a major money-maker for the drive-in is snack bar sales, but the province is still restricting any type of food sales on the premises. That is revenue Marshall says normally carries the business through the off-season.
“We are really hoping the government is going to reopen the snack bars so that people can come in and enjoy that stuff, and also give us some security for the months coming up once the drive-in season actually ends.”
For those looking to get out of the house and enjoy a night out safely, there are two options for viewing at the Skylight Drive-In next weekend, “Invisible Man and Black Christmas. So people do love the horrors, and they love watching horror movies in their car,” Marshall said.
Moviegoers are urged to buy their tickets sooner rather than later to attend the Skylight Drive-In in Pembroke this summer.
