We Heard

A Manitoba drive-in theatre, which was forced to close after a run of bad luck saw not one but two storms tear down their movie screen, is getting on with the show.

It’s taken several years — and four previously-used shipping containers — but the Shamrock Drive-in is ready to welcome movie-goers once again.

But getting to a Hollywood ending hasn’t exactly been easy for the outdoor theatre located just south of Kilarney, Man.

“In 2015, half of our screen came down, which was not very fun,” laughed drive-in co-owner Joanne Struss during an interview with Global News Winnipeg Morning.

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At the time of the storm, Struss said, lightning likely hit one of the posts holding up the screen, and high winds took the rest down.

The drive-in took it in stride, though, vowing to continue showing movies on its remaining half of a movie screen.

They even dared fate with a double feature of Twister and Wizard of Oz just a few weeks later.

But then lightning struck twice, so to speak.

“In a storm in June of 2016, the rest of the screen came down and at that point it was kind of a sinking feeling,” Struss said.

Struss says the second storm forced the theatre to take a step back. They were in the middle of working to raise money for digital equipment upgrades and building a home for their family to live in on the drive-in’s property, so the timing couldn’t have been worse.

“We set the drive-in on the backburner,” Struss says.

Thinking outside of the box

Now, after ultimately raising more than $9,000 for the equipment, and collecting insurance money for the damaged screen, they’re back in business.

Struss says the theatre was able to purchase a used projector from a drive-in in Idaho and decided to think outside of the box for a new screen.

Instead of rebuilding, they’ve piled three shipping containers on top of each other with a fresh coat of white paint on each to use as a large screen.

A fourth shipping container has also been set up behind the makeshift screen to add stability in case there’s more bad weather.

“I think it was probably three days after the screen went up … we had a storm coming through that was predicted to be around 80 km/h,” said Struss.

“My husband literally sat in the truck beside the containers that night and just watched to make sure they didn’t even move.”

The drive-in is hoping to raise the curtain on the new screen this summer.

Keep an eye on the Shamrock Drive-in’s Facebook page for more information on opening dates.

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