When the stars come out, under the stars
The theatre walls are scrubby pines and cedars, birch and poplar trees. The infinitely high ceiling turns from blue to indigo to starry black as the single orange house light dims, falling away at the western horizon to reveal a nearly full moon in the east. A southbound flock of Canada geese flies in precise formation, getting the early-bird’s jump on winter. Their cries, so loud at first, fade as they pass beyond the tree line, leaving in their stead the sounds of a dozen or more cans of bug spray being used at once, a symphony of “psshhts” that announces the start of the night’s main attraction.
The drive-in, which celebrates its 80th birthday this summer, is hardly as robust as it was in the 1950s and ’60s, when you could barely swing a bag of popcorn in Ottawa without hitting one: the Star-Top Drive-In on Cyrville Road, the Auto-Sky at Fisher and Baseline, the Aladdin on Albion Road and the Britannia, on Carling Avenue, all opened in or around 1949, followed by the Airport and Queensway drive-ins.
The Auto-Sky was the first to close, in 1981. The Britannia, demolished in 1996, was the last one standing.
These days, there are only a couple left in the area: CinéParc Templeton in Gatineau opened in 1990 and, with two screens, shows both French and English movies nightly, while the Port Elmsley drive-in near Smiths Falls has just the one.
At the latter on a recent night, the occupants of about 40 cars and trucks readied to watch Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine and, for heartier theatre-goers, 2 Guns, featuring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, as the second feature. Lawn chairs were out, with bug lanterns positioned underneath. In the back rows near the concession stand, the beds of trucks turned backwards were loaded with youngsters on bed and air mattresses. Blankets were spread on Jeep hoods, leashed dogs tied to old speaker stands.
From the driver’s seat of his car, Perth’s Don Desormeaux cleaned the inside of his windshield, having already used magnets to secure mosquito netting over the windows. “Got to have everything ready,” he says. “The bug screens are a must. Otherwise the windows fog up on a warm summer’s night.”
He usually comes to the drive-in a couple of times a year, but admits he hasn’t kept up the habit lately: this is his first time in two years. “I like the old-school drive-in experience,” he says. “We picked up a pizza and had our supper here. It’s fun.
At a nearby van, Lise Gagnon and Jason Colbran, accompanied by two teens and eight-year-old Julia Colbran, were learning the hard way after a couple of decades away from the drive-in: no netting or bug spray for the Kanata residents, just a couple of lawn chairs and a lot of pillows. But it was the kids’ first time at a drivein, and seemed a tradition worth renewing. “Nice weather, a nice night, something fun to do for the kids,” said Colbran, “so why not? It’s exciting.”