'We rely on these events': Trump rally causes problems for historic small theater business

When the Trump show heads to Shankweiler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, it was set to coincide with a tribute to the 90th anniversary of America's second oldest drive-in movie theater.

But now the owners of the Shankweiler’s Drive-In said the small business was forced to switch the day after being informed that the 45th president and presumptive nominee would be stumping in town.

"We found out through the news," Shankweiler’s co-owner Matt McClanahan said in a video posted on their social media site. "Nobody told us this was happening."

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"At the exact same time on the same day," co-owner of Shankweiler's Drive-In Lauren McChesney said.

Thousands are predicted to congregate at the Schnecksville Fire Company fairgrounds in North Whitehall Township on Saturday, according to Lehigh County Republican Committee Chairman Joe Vichot.

That is a four-minute drive distance.

McClanahan said that the Trump event would have created gridlock and been "literally less than a mile from the theater, the same day as our 90th-anniversary event, at the same time."

So they were forced to do something rare: go dark on a Saturday and move the event to Sunday, where they hope the turnout is strong to take in a double feature show of "Twister 2" followed by "Godzilla x Kong."

McClanahan and McChesney explained that the date switch affected the "hundreds of cars" along with fans flying in from out of town who expected to be there Saturday.

She acknowledged the shakeup forced them to "pause ticket sales" to be able to assure vendors could still make the event one day later than planned.

"We are a small business," said McClanahan. "We are new owners of a historic theater. We run on very tight margins and we rely on these events. When things like this happen to jeopardize our spring events they are, in fact, an existential threat to the theater.”

Since being invented by Richard Hollingshead, who opened the first one in Camden, New Jersey on June 6th, 1933, drive-in theaters spread all over the country. By the mid-1950s, there were more than 4,000 drive-ins.

Today, there are about 300 drive-in theaters remain across the country and 27 of them functioning in Pennsylvania, according to United Drive-in Theatre Owners Association (UDITOA).

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