MIDDLE POINT, Ohio. (WANE) — The Van-Del Drive-In staff has been preparing for its opening day all spring- raking cleaning and setting up its lot. But Saturday's storm toppled one of the drive-in's screens, adding one more thing to staff to fix.
"It's going to impact revenue quite a bit," Drive
-In Manager Ronald Dunn said. "We won't be selling tickets on the screen until it's back up. So we will be relying on the revenue from just the one big screen ... That's how I know [the owners will] probably want to get it up right away."
For the past 15 years, the screen had been weighed down by seven concrete legs. Each four to five foot leg weighs about 500 pounds, and the wind still managed to unearth all of them, breaking the screen.
Dunn has been working drive-ins for 30 years. He has seen wind damage drive-in screens, but never "flop one over" like he saw today. According to Dunn, the screen will probably need to be rebuilt.
And fast.
Without a second screen, the drive-in could lose thousands in revenue.
Dunn said the 67 year old drive-in is a "landmark" in Northwest Ohio, and it'll be a priority to repair.
"We do have a lot of community support," Dunn said. "A lot of people are messaging me and messaging our website saying 'hey, how can we help.' We're going to get through this, we always do."
Whether it be with one or two screens, the drive-in still plans to reopen next month.
The screen was 15 years old.
Its seven concrete legs weigh up to 500 pounds.
The drive-in will still open next month.
The Van-Del Drive-In charges $10 per adult with a maximum charge of $25 per car. Children under 13 are free. ...read more read less