The Jubilee Drive In at Manitou Beach will have their first showing of the season tonight. (Facebook/Jubilee Drive In)

By Angie Rolheiser

Cinematic Adventure

Opening night for Jubilee drive-in movie theatre at Manitou Beach

Jun 19, 2020 | 3:02 PM

Capacity will be reduced but the Jubilee Drive-in movie theatre at Manitou Beach will open their gates this evening.

Drive-ins were given the green light to open on May 17th by the provincial government but equipment issues led to a delayed opening.

Manager Earl Hayhurst said they now have their technical issues ironed out and are implementing the public health guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parking spots have been separated to abide by social distancing requirements.

“We have taken ice cream pails, filled them with sand and spray painted a number on them and the theatre goers will park beside them and that is their spot,” Hayhurst said. “We are going to do delivery to cars to try and reduce the number of people coming to the concession.”

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Orders can be made through text and a menu will be available on the Jubilee Drive-in Facebook page. People will still be able to access the concession but are encouraged to use the delivery option.

Tonight’s special feature is Dolittle with Robert Downey Jr. at 10 p.m., a double feature of The Secret Life of Pets and Secret Life of Pets 2, will follow tomorrow. Dolittle will be shown again on Sunday night. Gates open each night at 9 p.m.

Adult tickets are $10, Kids ages five to 10 are $5, while four and under are free and a carload is $30. The drive-in is a cash only, no debit or ATM is available.

There will be no advanced tickets available so an early arrival time will help with guaranteeing a spot.

Hayhurst is going into his first season as manager which has been made more of a challenge with the public health order in place.

“When they asked me to do this back in January this (COVID-19) wasn’t a thing yet so we will see how it goes,” Hayhurst said.

There will be space for 63 vehicles which is about half of the normal amount of just over 100.

To begin with, the theatre will only have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday showings, but Thursdays may be added when July rolls around.

“I also own the Video Stop in Watrous which is an actual surviving video store, imagine that,” Hayhurst said.

When sports and school was cancelled, Hayhurst said business at the Video Stop really picked up but has since returned to normal.

“I really don’t have releases now because same as the theatre, there are no new movies,” Hayhurst said.

Mulan was set to come out in March has been set back to at least July 24, according to Hayhurst.

Attendance doesn’t seem like it will be an issue for the drive-in although there are still limits in place on certain activities and outings.

Between Manitou Beach being a hot spot for tourism and being central to the two larger cities, Hayhurst is very optimistic for the season.

“We are 90 minutes from Regina, about an hour from Saskatoon, and an hour from Humboldt, so very central” Hayhurst said. “It’s so nice at Manitou also with the ice cream shop, golf course, and mini golf opens next week.”

Camping is open at half capacity but the Manitou Springs Resort and Mineral Spa won’t open until the next phase of the re-open Saskatchewan plan.

The drive-in will be open until the first weekend of September.

“We have a pretty good line-up ready for the next few weeks, we have some classics, retro stuff and so we hope that everyone has fun and enjoy it,” Hayhurst said.

This year will mark the 65th anniversary of the drive-in at Manitou Beach which staff hopes to celebrate at some point.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser