In the pandemic days a good old drive-in sees its resurgence across the United States, allowing for social distancing without social deprivation, a welcome respite for people who, as it turns out, very much miss each other.
DRIVE TO WATCH
A car line stretches for half a mile to a drive-in movie theater in the Virginia countryside, one of the first to get permission to reopen. Over 200 vehicles, one by one, pour in and take their slots around a big screen under the stars.
“It’s our first time out since we are quarantined. We are excited to have a safe family night out, get back to some kind of a normalcy,” says Rachel as she sits in a folding chair in front of her SUV.
Her kids wrap themselves in blankets in an open trunk in anticipation of a cartoon about trolls’ adventures.
Drive-in theaters have been around in the US since the early 1930s. Increasingly eclipsed by more sophisticated indoors cinemas, they received an unexpected lease of new life after coronavirus eliminated competition.
“We approached the Virginia governor’s office and got an approval to operate as long as we have a social distancing and follow health department regulations,” Jim Kopp, the cinema’s owner, told Sputnik. “I think people missed movies... and we suspect in the next two weeks two hundred, maybe three hundred will open.”
The cinema operates at 50 percent of its capacity - 217 cars instead of 434 - to maintain ten-feet distances between viewers.
“All food orders are through an app. The restrooms are disinfected after each patron that uses them. Staff has to wear masks and change gloves every half hour,” Kopp says. “We had to do all that to open back.”
He plans to screen the latest releases before Hollywood took a coronavirus-induced pause and then switched to classics - “some of the retros, maybe Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter.”
The audience is not picky these days.
“It doesn’t matter what to watch. We needed to get out of the house,” says another patron, Tana, sitting in the front row with her family in pajamas and a couple of puppies. “I love that they allow dogs with us, that we are out of the house together, and just do something that is out of what our new norm is.”
DRIVE TO PRAY
Some would venture on a three-hour journey to join a drive-in prayer, an initiative described by its hosts as nothing short of an epiphany.
“The very first week that the quarantine happened my husband said we should do a drive-in church because people can’t meet in churches right now. So within 24 hours of having said that we had everything all put together,” Sharon Glasgow says.
Together with her husband, Dale, she runs an event business, staging weddings and other festivities at their picturesque farm in rural Virginia. An idea to host a drive-in replacement for quarantined churches came out of the blue - they were not aware of any examples to follow.
“We didn’t know if anybody would show up for it, but on the first week we had 22 cars, which was about 60 people who came. And then every week it has grown. On Easter week we had 400 people,” Sharon says. “Like today, we don’t know 50 percent of the people who came. We don’t know where they are from. Some drove three hours to get here. They said because they need hope, they need to be with people.”
Being with people is a major motivation for those who pray inside their cars, surrounding a wheeled platform with a wooden cross, sing along hymns, respond with honks each time they hear “Hallelujah,” flash headlights to friends and neighbors, so close and yet so distant.
“It’s odd that you can’t hug people, but it is fun to be able to see people that you know. You don’t realize how much you miss it, until you see them, just wave and talk with your windows down,” Hannah says.
“We love it. Even though we can’t leave our cars we get to feel like we are together. We are together apart. It’s totally awesome,” says Nicole, who came to pray with her husband.
Encouraged by the success, Dale and Sharon Glasgow have more drive-in ideas - drive-in graduations and drive-in weddings.
“We still have two weddings for May that haven’t canceled their events. It’s very possible that we could actually have them in a hay wagon,” Dale says. “A bride and a groom will be in a hay wagon and hay will be around it, and all family members, 200 of them, will be in cars. That’s a plan.”
