Monday, March 30, 2020

Carthage's 66 Drive In won't be source of entertainment during pandemic

Some area residents had expressed the hope that the 66 Drive In in Carthage would show films to provide some much-needed entertainment during the COVID-19 crisis, but that is not going to happen.

66 Drive-In owners stressed safety of employees in the following Facebook message posted Sunday:

As with everyone in our great Nation the 66 Drive In Theatre has been monitoring the COVID19 virus and it effects on our lives and small businesses. We have been asked time and time again, “when are you opening, that is a perfect example of social distancing”? 


While we agree is it unique example of distant measures there is much more than just opening.







As a business we must understand the risk vs reward. Are we willing to accept the risk for a small reward? Right now the answer is no, but we want help you understand our thought process as to WHY.

Risk to our workers - someone still must man the gate and accept tickets fees. Someone must monitor the restrooms and clean after every use and limit the amount of people who enter at any one time.
Our concessions must stay closed. We are not capable of online food ordering and delivery nor do we want to right now. 

The concession stand is the majority of our profit as the movie companies take most of our ticket sales. We also have to mark off every other parking spot to ensure physical distancing, to name a few other complications.

Last but not least is the movie companies - they are not releasing any new movies right now, it’s all going straight to streaming service. We know we can do throwback movies, but that only gets us so far.

We care far greater for the safety of our employees and the community to open for movies at this time. Our projected date is Friday April 17th but that is subject to change depending on how things in the World at that time.

We promise you - no one wants to open more than we do, but we also have a social responsibility to the community we must uphold.

Thank You - see you soon.

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