3/6/2023 0 Comments Van buren drive in![]() ![]() Maybe they would even see a shooting star.ĭrive-ins started in the 1930s when car culture and movie culture began to boom in a Depression-ridden county. I could see why a teenager with a new set of wheels in the 1940s and ’50s would have brought a girl to the drive-in to impress her for a romantic night out. Not that I need to be convinced, but it was easy to understand the romanticism of drive-ins. We were sitting outside on a cool, starry night, seeing planes fly overhead to the local airport and trains roar by on the nearby track. With numerous other cars projecting their radios in the parking lot, it sounded like a modern surround sound system. To avoid ending the night with a dead car battery, we borrowed a family friend’s boom box with radio capability to use for the night. The Van Buren uses a radio station to project the audio. This third screen will also offer fire pit sites for watching the movies around the fire with friends and family.After being directed to our screen, we backed the car into a parking spot, put the seats down in the back, got out the folding chairs and set up our boom box. We are one of a very few drive-ins able to offer this feature! Our third screen will show first run feature movies and is located in our full service campground consisting of 20 large RV parking spots with full hook ups. Our second screen will contain an LED Video Wall system that allows us to run 2nd run movies during the day. Our future looks bright! As we close to the public for the winter season, we will continue to build our second and third screens. This third screen will also offer fire pit sites for watching the movies around the fire with friends and family…what fun! ![]() We are in the process of bringing them up to current building code for years of enjoyment! We are remodeling the original 1948 Concession Stand and Ticket Booth that are still standing although in very rough shape. Opening our doors as the Van Buren Drive-in & Activities Center on October 1, 2021, we currently have 1 screen built in the original location of the 1948 screen. Later in 2011 after years of neglect and vandalism, the original 1948 screen blew down in a tornado that ripped through Van Buren. As drive-in attendance declined, the owners allowed the last few rows to be reclaimed by the surrounding woods such that when the doors were closed in 1991, only 9 of 12 car rings remained usable. Originally, with parking for 850 cars spread across almost 15 acres of parking area, she was one of the biggest of her time. She was born in 1948 and opened her doors in 1949. At the time there was very little left of the old girl and she was in very rough shape. Our dream became reality in the fall of 2020 when we were able to purchase the abandoned Van Buren Drive-In.
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