Since its 1954 opening, the Twilite Drive-In has provided a community square for the residents of Wolseley and tourists from out of town to gather, play and watch movies at an accessible price.
This drive-in is one out of the five drive-in theatres still operating in the province. Stan Zaba built the establishment with his own two hands and co-operated with his wife, Marie Zaba, debuting the theatre with the premier showcase of the “Beachhead.”
Then in 1982, the business was bought by his son Don Zaba and it has successfully been in the family for 72 years now.
“There’s a whole livelihood. We grew up with the drive, with our bread and butter, and they did well over the years, and I hate to see it leave the family, but hopefully one of the kids will take it over, but we’ll see what happens,” said Don.
When the drive-in transitioned from the old way of viewing films to the digital way, the upgrades were too expensive for the theatre to shoulder it on their own.
Instead, the whole community of Wolseley came together to support fundraising for the upgrade in order to keep the facility functioning in their community.
April Dahnke, a proud resident in the small town of Wolseley for the past 18 years have treasured the Twilite Drive-In as an accessible and affordable way to spend time with her family while still being close to home.
“When you go to the drive-in, it isn’t just being able to drive a kilometre from your house and watch a movie,” said Dahnke. “It’s about being able to go as a family, park your car and there’s all sorts of playing and action on the field in front of the screen.”
The Twilite fosters a unique experience compared to a typical indoor cinema. Viewers can come to the drive-in in whatever clothing they choose, can bring their pets to walk them around the fields and the children can play on the long-standing orange swing set.
The establishment has a full concession at hand, all the while, the audience can settle inside their car and hear the movie audio through the radio channel.
Don preserves the nostalgic magic at the drive-in while keeping it exciting and new for the younger generations by playing all the up-to-date movies.
The drive-in rotated with the newly released movies this summer with the titles: Project Hail Mary, Minions & Monsters, Spider-Man Brand New Day, etc. While playing movies like Grease or Footloose to bring older people still coming.
“They [older people] used to always come to the drive-in and now they have kids and grandchildren, so they’re actually taking their children to the drive-in, because they went there when they were my age or younger,” said Don.
During the typical season, Don said the attendance at the drive-in varies greatly depending on what movie is showing, namely if there was a Marvel showing, it would get pretty full, but if a kids movie played, it would have a low attendance record. However, on a typical night, it averages 60 to 80 cars.
“It’s been a super treasure in our town and has brought a lot of tourists through,” said Don. During the summer season this year, a tourist flew in from Japan and biked all across Canada until he stopped by the Twilite Drive-In, from which he heard about it when he got to Halifax.
In regard to the prospect of the drive-in potentially going out, Dahnke hopes that as time passes, the Zaba family will be able to find another person who is interested in taking the legacy on.
“The Zaba name will always be forever connected to the drive-in, but it would be wonderful if somebody else could take it on so that it can continue to be a treasure to our community,” said Dahnke.
