With summer just around the corner, brothers Ed and Tom Caro are working hard to open Malta Drive-In for the 60th season. 

On May 16, the newly renovated drive-in will open for business and in June, the Caros will unveil a brand new second screen and renovated bathrooms. 

“We wanted to offer our guests a choice.  It’s hard for any theater to have only one screen, and this just felt like the right time to add another,” Ed Caro said. 

The addition to the outdoor theater will allow 800 vehicles, 250 more than previous years. Malta Drive-In will also be accepting “ozoner” cards, a discount card that is widely used at drive-ins around the country.  According to Caro, “ozoner” is an archaic term for a drive-in theater. 

Malta Drive-In originally opened in 1949 and was purchased by the Caro brothers in 1988. It was their dream to own two businesses on one property, as they already owned a furniture store. In 2001, their furniture store, called Furniture Theater, was moved to the drive-in property.

“It’s been an interesting 20 years,” Ed Caro said. “We’ve had plenty of high points and disasters, like any business.”

Caro remembered a time when lightning struck the theater and did quite a bit of damage.

“The movie still played, but the sound was gone. Our intercom was shot and the phones were down. We had no way to tell our customers that their night was over and they needed to get refunds,” he explained.  

However, the upsides outweigh the downsides.

“There’s just something about a drive-in theater. Guests can be in their car or sitting in lawn chairs, they can talk to each other without disturbing the people next to them. It’s a social event,” Ed Caro said. 

In 2007, there were 405 drive-in theaters around the United States and were hugely popular in the 1950’s through the 1960’s, with an all time high of 4,063 around the country in 1958.

According to Jennifer Sherer Janisch, CEO of Drive-On-In, Inc., the last several years have seen a revitalization of drive-ins with expansions like Malta Drive-In, reopenings of old theaters and the building of new theaters. 

Malta Drive-In will be open from May 16 through September and will show double-features on two screens.  Admission is $7 for adults and $3 for children under 12.  For more information, call Tom or Ed Caro at 587-9420.