FORT COLLINS — Americans love going to the movies, and to some, the best way to watch their favorite stars on the silver screen is under the stars at a drive-in theater.
Drive-in theaters are a movie niche that fit among the nostalgic ranks with Elvis and hula hoops. According to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association, outdoor theaters peaked in 1958 when there were 4,063 drive-ins around the country. By 2011, the official count had shrunk to 366. In 2012, two of Colorado’s eight drive-ins failed to light up their screens.
Outdoor theaters used to sit far from the bright lights of cities, but as suburbanization crept farther from central populations, property values surrounding the theaters rose. Jim Goble, board member of the UDITOA, said that drive-ins began to fall off the map, burdened by higher property taxes or lured with lucrative selling prices.
“Real estate values rendered land so valuable that it was inevitable,” said Goble, who also owns the Starlite Drive-in in Wichita, Kan. “However, the thinning out has slowed to the point that the ones that are left are here to stay.”
Fortunately for those in Northern Colorado, the experience of watching a movie under the sky still can be found in Fort Collins.
Read more of at Coloradoan.com.
