NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — The Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-In Theatre has a special place in the drive-in’s vice president, Del Sherman’s, heart. 

“It was built by my father and my grandfather,” he said. “So George and Tom Sherman, and it’s been family-owned and operated ever since.” 

Sherman said the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the theater’s opening in 2020, but not for long.

“We transitioned from our normal ticketing operations to online sales to allow people to have less contact the box office,” he said. “We were able to open up seven days a week for the duration of the whole summer.” 

Since restrictions eased, the drive-in faces new obstacles like higher wages for staff and more expensive supplies. 

“Especially our oils. Everything has gone up,” he said. “So of course, in order to compensate for the inflation of our employee pricing, our employee costs as well as our food price, we had to increase those as well to accommodate.” 

He also said despite gas prices hitting record highs, people are still coming out to enjoy the movies under the stars. 

“The nice thing right now in the summertime is you can park your car, sit outside here,” he said. “So you only have the drive here. The gas expense. You don’t have to run your car here to keep the, you know, like in the wintertime.” 

He said positivity goes a long way in uncertain times. 

“We try and keep our prices reasonable to make sure that families can afford to come here and experience it like they did when they were kids or their grandparents or bring kids come back,” he said.