'It was a rite of passage': Sask. group comes together to save a nostalgic drive-in theatre
One of Saskatchewan’s last remaining drive-in movie theatres will be opening this season after months of uncertainty. The threat of losing the nostalgic gem at Manitou Beach sparked a movement in the community to save it.
Burt Crawford holds an original concession sign, which displays the price of a hamburger at 30 cents, a hot dog for 20 cents and coffee or hot chocolate for 10 cents.
The sign is a throwback to the early 1950s when his dad ran the drive-in at Manitou Beach. His dad also owned the movie theatre on Main Street in Watrous at the time.
“He didn’t want to open a drive in, but he said I sure don’t want anyone else to,” Crawford told CTV News.
Crawford, now almost 89-years-old, put long hours into the family business in his youth, while going to university studying to be a geological engineer. He remembers a project he was responsible for where he had to install all the wires linking up the speaker boxes. Something that doesn’t exist any longer as audio is delivered through an AM/FM transmitter to each vehicle.
“I dug in all the underground lines to go to the speaker posts with a pick,” he remembers.
He moved back from Alberta with his wife when his dad suggested he was selling the drive-in in the late 1950s. He had a good job but wanted to try the family business.
He admits he made a deal with one of his bosses that if the drive-in didn’t work out, he could return to his job. But, he says, he never looked back. It was 1960, and moving back to a small town was going against the norm.
“Kids could not wait to get out of these towns and get to the big city,” he said.
With strong ties to the drive-in theatre he helped build, he is now happy to help a local group starting the theatre up again this year. It comes after a worrisome end to the 2022 season when a projector explosion put the whole operation in jeopardy.
“What’s going to happen? There were lots of questions around the community. It’s like any business or asset that we have here; nobody wants to see us losing any of those assets,” drive-in project organizer, Lane Manson told CTV News.
Manson’s interest in helping the icon stay afloat is personal, as he remembers his teen years at the theatre with friends fondly.
“When you’d get old enough to be on your own, it was a rite of passage. They’d have all nighters. You’d get lost from 9:00 or whenever your parents picked you up,” he says.
With those memories in mind, he didn’t want this treasure to close like so many others in the province, so he searched for help. His calls were answered by the community.
“We’ve got a partner to operate the concession, we can get movies and a projector, and I’m just sort of overseeing that,” he says.
June 9 is the proposed start date if everything goes well.
All those involved in the project realize that it’s the combination of attractions in the resort that make it thrive.
“The whole is worth more than sum of the parts. If we start to let these institutions fail, there’s just less for people to do and we become less relevant,” Manson said.
Crawford plans to lend his vast knowledge of the business and this particular drive-in to the project and be an advisor, feeling strongly that the show must go on.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.