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Businessman makes pitch for ‘pop-up’ drive-in theatre

3 min read

BELLEFONTE -- Centre County's last drive-in theatre, the Starlite, closed in 2008. If one Bellefonte businessman has his way, the borough might see a pop-up drive-in sometime this summer.

At Monday night's Bellefonte Borough Council meeting, Kevin Lloyd, owner of Big Spring Spirits, spoke via conference call and pitched the idea.

"My idea isn't entirely all that original. As I started researching it a bit, I found that people are starting to do it around the country," Lloyd said. "My idea is to do a pop-up drive-in and have the food trucks there and charge a fee for people to get in. Maybe 10 percent of sales from the food vendors could be donated to a local charity."

Several weeks ago, the borough used the waterfront property to show a short film that honored the county's medical professionals, emergency personnel and first responders. While the waterfront is too small to host a drive-in movie, Lloyd suggested the Armory Building property, which is sitting vacant.

According to Lloyd, the public would buy tickets in advance and attendance would be capped at around 200 cars. Attendees would wear a mask to the food truck of their choice, order their food, then take it back to their car. The movie would be shown on a portable 40-foot screen and a transponder would be used for sound on FM radio in the cars.

"The food vendors would win, the charity would win for the (cost of) admission and a portion of the food sales. I thought it would be kind of a fun thing. People could get their food, they would stay in their car, they would be self-contained, they would maintain (social) distancing and they could go out again and do something," Lloyd said.

Lloyd said that movies could be shown on different holidays, such as Father's Day, the Fourth of July and Veteran's Day.

One councilman questioned the location, but Lloyd explained the logistics.

"I think at the Armory Building, the screen could be at the top of the hill where the building is and cars would be parked down below going down toward Bishop Street. Cars would park on the hill so the screen would be above it. I think the slope would be nice to not block the view," Lloyd said.

The next step will be for Lloyd to meet with the borough's building and property committee, according to borough manager Ralph Stewart.

"I think it has some viability," Stewart said. "We've had similar events in the borough. It reminds me of the Tasting Trail at Talleyrand Park. I think that it could work as long as there are no big groups, no long lines."

With Centre County currently in the "yellow phase" under Gov. Tom Wolf's re-opening plan, gatherings are limited to 25 people or less. However, other drive-ins throughout Pennsylvania have re-opened. The closest drive-in is the Super 322, located along state Route 322 in Clearfield County.

"I definitely think it could work," Stewart said.

Stewart said that the borough hopes to have an answer for Lloyd at the next borough council meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, June 1. That meeting will be held via Zoom.

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