Tri-Way Drive-in Theatre in Plymouth reopens with some guidelines

MARSHALL COUNTY, Ind.--  Tri-Way Drive-in Theatre in Plymouth re-opened this weekend with some guidelines set in place to keep movie-goers safe.

The Tri-Way Drive-in Theatre has been home to Plymouth since the 1950s. In the 70 years of business, no one would ever have been able to predict a delay in opening after they closed down for the season. But with a mix of bad weather, along with the coronavirus pandemic it was inevitable.

The owner of Tri-Way Drive-inTheatre, David Kinney said they had to go through the local health department before they could reopen.

“When we decided to open up we had to go through the local health department to make sure that we met with all the guidelines that they had set in place,” Kinney said.

Some of these guidelines meant that cars had to be parked between each pole to ensure social distancing and movie –goers had to have a face mask on if they wanted to venture out to the concession line or to the restrooms.  

“I noticed last night that almost everybody was really good about wearing their face masks,” Kinney said.  “A couple people I had to ask them. I said you need to go back to your vehicle and put on your face mask. The playground was closed, and we don’t have a picnic area set up. So everyone would stay in their vehicle.”

Kinney said since they’ve reopened, they’ve gotten a lot of customers. This weekend they’ve seen around 60 to 70 percent capacity and on Saturday, they had to turn people away.

“People they came from all over. They were very happy that they had some place to go,” said Kinney. “I think it really helped in terms of the mental state of everyone, because they’ve been cooped up for so long. Cabin-fever was kind of overwhelming them, so they were really happy that we opened up."

Right now Tri-Way Drive-in Theater iis only opened on Friday’s and Saturdays, but the owner hopes to eventually expand to Sunday’s and possibly even open during the weekdays.