What’s Going On With The Old Skowhegan Drive-In Sign?

The last few years have been a tough time for entertainment businesses, this is especially true for theaters.  During the height of the pandemic, many theaters were completely closed.  Then, once they re-opened, they had to deal with pandemic-related restrictions and the fact that many people were taking advantage of the fact that new movies were coming to streaming platforms much sooner than they had been before March of 2020.

Fortunately for the drive-in theater industry, because they are perfect for social distancing, the pandemic brought a boost to business.  In addition to being some of the only theaters that were open during this time, many also featured concert events.  People flocked to the drive-in to see these shows. And, even though these recorded concert movies were not quite the same as a real concert, they were better than watching a concert on your TV at home.

Sadly, for some, it was still not enough.

After really struggling for the last few years, and being unable to find a suitable buyer for the business, the owner of the Skowhegan Drive-In made the very tough decision to close for good.  In late September, after seven decades in business, the drive-in played its final movies.

If you have driven past the new closed theater, you may be wondering what was going to happen to the theater's iconic sign.  Was it going to stay there and rust away?  Was it going to end up in a junkyard?

The great news is that it won't suffer either of those fates.  Nope!  It has been purchased by people who plan to preserve it.

According to the KJ, the sign has been purchased by the owners of a drive-in theater in Nebraska.  The article explains that Edison, and his wife Courtney, own the Sandhills Drive-In in Alliance, Nebraska.  They recently made the trip to Skowhegan in order to check out the sign and make the purchase.

Even though we are sad to see the drive-in close, we are glad to see that at least part of its legacy will be preserved.