Southington Drive-In FAQ

Gates open at 6 PM every Saturday from late May through mid-September. The movie starts at dark, roughly thirty minutes after sunset. That puts the actual showtime anywhere from just past 9 PM in the height of summer to about 7:30 PM by the season's last show in September.

Twenty dollars per carload, five dollars per walk-in with a lawn chair. Cash only at the gate. There is no advance ticketing.

Tune your car radio to 89.9 FM. The drive-in transmits the audio on that frequency throughout the lot. A handheld FM radio works too if you're sitting in a lawn chair.

Watch the official Southington Drive-In Facebook page for the cancellation call, which goes up the afternoon of each show. If a Saturday gets canceled, whether the night is added back at the end of the season or skipped outright is also called out there. The Facebook page is the single source. Check it before you leave the house if the weather looks rough.

995 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, Southington, Connecticut. It is on Route 322 in the western part of town, behind a row of trees off the highway. Look for the marquee sign at the entrance to Recreation Park.

Yes. Your carload admission is your parking space. The lot holds about three hundred cars parked single file facing the screen, and the gate crew stages older and lower vehicles closer in so they don't block sightlines for the taller ones behind.

Yes. The drive-in has accessible parking, accessible restrooms, and a wheelchair-accessible pavilion. One thing to plan for: the lot surface is mostly gravel with some patches of asphalt these days, and there is gravel around the cement at the pavilion. Day-of questions about the easiest route from the lot to the pavilion are answered fastest through the official Facebook page.

Yes. Outside food is welcome. No grills, hot plates, or other cooking devices on the lot. The snack bar is still run by the Southington High School DECA Club if you want to support them, and every dollar you spend there funds the chapter.

Yes. The Southington High School DECA Club runs it. Hot dogs, popcorn, soda, candy, the standard summer lineup. Every dollar you spend there funds the chapter's school-year activities.

Welcome. Tailgate from the bed of a pickup, set up chairs in front of your bumper, or roll a blanket out on the grass beside your car. Walk-ins with lawn chairs are five dollars each, the cheapest way to see a show.

Service animals welcome. Other pets, please leave at home. The lot gets crowded and dark and the volunteers can't run interference all night.

May 18, 1955. The opening double feature was George Montgomery in Seminole Uprising and Glenn Ford in Blackboard Jungle. The Perakos family had spent the previous five years fighting the property owners' zoning appeals before they could break ground.

The Town of Southington has owned the roughly forty-acre property since April 2004, when voters approved a $1.61 million purchase by a 2,299 to 1,087 margin. It is annexed to Recreation Park and operated by the all-volunteer Southington Drive-In Committee.

Because the town bought it when no other buyer would, and volunteers turned the projector back on when nobody was paid to. Most American drive-ins are empty fields with broken speaker poles. Southington is a Saturday-night fundraiser for whichever local nonprofit signed up to staff the gate that week.

From July 1979 to the 2002 season the lot ran as the Southington Twin, two screens going at once. John Perakos added the second screen to keep pace with the multiplex era. After the family retired in 2002 the second screen was never restored. The 2010 reopening came back as a single screen of about three hundred cars.

Show up on a Saturday and bring cash. Eat at the snack bar. Each week a different local nonprofit hosts and shares in the proceeds, so the twenty dollars you paid funds something specific those volunteers care about.

Volunteer signups run through the host nonprofits. Message the official Southington Drive-In Facebook page and ask which org you want to staff a night with. They actually answer.

The official Facebook page is where the regulars trade Saturday-night stories, post photos, and welcome new visitors. This site is a fan tribute, not the place to upload your own. Drop your memory on the official page instead.

If you are interested, reach out to the Drive-In Committee directly for the best answer. The official Facebook page is the entry point. They book the next season's host calendar in the off-months and can tell you what slots are open and what an organization needs to commit to in order to host a night.

Two ways. The Drive-In Committee's official Facebook page handles all show-related inquiries. Or call Southington Parks and Recreation at (860) 276-6219. Parks and Rec does not run the Saturday movies (they cannot tell you if a show is canceled or not), but they handle the property itself and can connect you to the committee. The town's drive-in property page has the full breakdown at https://www.southingtonct.gov/departments/recreation/driveinproperty.php.