Cottage Grove Drive-In Having Final Showing

COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) – The Cottage View Drive-In, one of the only drive-in theaters in the metro area, will have its final showing Saturday night.

There has been talk over the last few years on several occasions of shutting down the drive-in movie theater, but each time the community rallied to save it. But last month, a final decision was made to close the theater.

At least $70,000 was needed for digital projections and other upgrades to the equipment. Saturday night's closing will end 46 years of movie history, and leave only one drive-in in the Twin Cities, the Valley High Drive-In in Lake Elmo.

"There's certainly demand for it. The nostalgia factor, the family factor and the memory factors. It would be great if we could get a replacement for it, but there's quite a commitment there. So yeah, I think they Valley High is going to be pretty busy next year," said Ed Stofferahn, one of the owners of the drive-in.

The theater will show "The Amazing Spiderman" and "Hotel Transylvania" for its final two showings, which will begin at sundown.