Who doesn’t remember summer nights at the drive-in? Who doesn’t remember watching movies under the stars with individual speakers positioned in the car windows? I do, at the Kearney Drive-In Theatre in Kearney, Nebraska. Drive-ins used to be hot spots for outdoor date nights…a place where you could snuggle and make out with a date in your car while watching a romantic movie, not unlike sitting in the balcony of The World Theatre on main street in Kearney. Back in the 70s, spending a weekend night at the local drive-in was also a great place to just hang out for a few hours and socialize…a place where everyone ran into someone they knew, especially at the concession stand while purchasing snacks and drinks.

In the summer of 1974 I remember driving my Ford Fairlane 500 to the Kearney Drive-In with a date to see “The Exorcist.” Horror movies provided the best opportunity to comfort a date or to sneak up on another couple and scare them between trips to the concession stand. I’m pretty sure I frightened at least one carload of unsuspecting moviegoers that night.

The Kearney Drive-In, which opened in 1950, became a staple of the community for 58 years before it closed in May of 2008 after a tornado damaged the screen. For a long time, the entrance marquee read: “GONE WITH THE WIND.” With no hope of raising funds to repair the screen, it was demolished in July of the same year. So many memories were razed with it.

Flash forward twelve years later…the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has completely changed life as we know it but drive-ins have found a new audience. Safety restrictions have been implemented from state to state…schools and colleges have migrated to online classes, restaurants have stopped in-house dining while still offering pick-up and delivery services, and large group gatherings at museums and indoor movie theaters are no longer allowed as our country struggles to control the virus and develop a vaccine. At the same time, drive-in movie theaters began making a comeback across the country as social distancing became the new norm.

Like many businesses facing the crisis, The World Theatre temporarily closed its doors in March of 2020, but continued to think outside the box by providing curbside concession pickups for those wanting to enhance their movie watching experience at home. Then The World Theatre began thinking about providing a safe venue for moviegoers in spite of the virus. They headed a campaign to fund a temporary pop-up drive-in at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds in Kearney. The idea was to hang a large screen from a stack of three steel shipping containers so friends and family once again could enjoy a social outing in a safe environment while minimizing the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Voilà: The World Drive-In made its debut on June 18, 2020, with the showing of “Grease.”

“Grease” was a sold-out event. Long gone are the individual speakers hanging in car windows – now audio is transmitted to car radios – but the retro drive-in experience is alive and well in Kearney as The World Drive-In continues to cater to moviegoers with sold-out summer showings of movies including “Grease,” “The Goonies,” “Independence Day,” and “Back to the Future” parts I, II, and III. Leaves me feeling nostalgic for those good old days at the drive-in.