Blast from the past: Sask. drive-in theatre opens for year

It turns out you don’t need a DeLorean to take you back in time to revisit the fads of the ’50s.

You just need one to drive out to Wolseley, Sask.

The Twilite Drive-in movie theatre, located about 100 kilometres east of Regina, opened for the year Thursday.

The theatre was built in 1954 by Stan Zaba. His son, Don, bought the theatre in 1982 and has been running it ever since.

“It’s been in the family from day one and hopefully we’ll keep it that way,” Zaba said.

He said a major clean-up was needed in order to get the theatre running for the year and food needed to be ordered in for the concession.

Zaba said many people come out to enjoy the nostalgia of watching a movie under the stars.

“A lot of our patrons when they were quite a big younger, their folks brought them to the Twilite Drive-in,” he said. 

“Now they’re older and married and got kids and they want to get their children to have the same experience.”

Zaba added people from across the province come to watch movies at the theatre, and even some from across the country.

“They make a stop at the Twilite Drive-in, bring their RV there, spend three to four days out there and carry on.”

He also mentioned the theatre is pet-friendly.

“They can let them run around the grounds before the show, as long as they have them on a leash and what not, and during the show they watch,” he said. “But we don’t charge for pets. Free admission.”

The theatre is opening with The Lego Batman Movie as a free showing Thursday night, with Kong: Skull Island being shown the rest of the Easter long weekend.

You can view their schedule online.