TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — It was the return of an era for some at the Tucker Civic Center Friday night when the parking lot filled with families in their cars, spending their Friday night out at a drive-in movie.
The drive-in theatre concept has become popular again as people seek out safe ways to have fun.
"It does bring back a lot of memories," said Pam Hardy, who attended the event.
The last time Hardy was at a drive-in movie was decades ago with her father.
Friday night she got to share that same experience with her own son for the first time.
"It's nice that we're all here together and everyone had a good time last month and talked about how they had a good time," Hardy said. "So I wanted to join in on the fun."
The first drive-in in October brought more than 300 cars to the Civic Center lot.
Visit Tallahassee and Tallahassee Downtown hosted A Night at the Drive-In in the Civic Center parking lot.
Organizers said they started seeing other smaller communities doing this during the summer and wanted to bring it here.
With most movie theaters and entertainment closed earlier this year, drive-in movies seemed like a no-brainer, and the trend picked up.
With a 40-foot screen and plenty of parking at the Civic Center, it is the best spot for social distancing and fun with the family.
Kicking it off with more than 300 cars in October, they say the pandemic has brought back an older era of entertainment.
"It is that era and feel of nostalgia right, it's just fun.," said Elizabeth Emmanual, the CEO of Downtown Improvement Authority. "A lot of people never got a chance to experience a true drive-in. It closed in our community earlier than many of our attendees were born. So it's kind of giving them a chance to relieve some cool memories that they may have had."
In keeping with the theme, they are playing older movies. Friday night, they showed Grease.
"I love it actually," said Miranda Delavallende. "I'm an old soul so I've watched old movies for like my whole life and I've always wanted to go to a drive-in movie."
With concessions from Andrews and good entertainment, people say it's something they would like to see continue after the pandemic is over.
They plan to do more of these after the pandemic, but on a smaller scale.
The event was free, attendees only needed to RSVP on the event page, available by clicking here.
