One Of The Last 2 Metro Drive-Ins Closes Saturday
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) – The Cottage View Drive-In, one of the only two drive-in theaters left in the metro area, will have its final showing this Saturday.
Over the last few years, there's been talk of shutting down Cottage View several times, but the community rallied to keep it open.
However, last month the final decision came to close this theater, and a Walmart will be built in it's place. The cost to keep it up and running just got to be too much.
At least $70,000 was needed for digital projections and other upgrades to the equipment.
When this theater closes Saturday, it will also end 46 years of movie history in Cottage Grove. And there will only be one drive-in left in the Twin Cities – Lake Elmo's Vali-Hi Drive-In.
Ed Stofferahn of Cottage View says that even though drive-ins are vanishing, there is still a love of the institution.
"There's certainly demand for it – I mean the nostalgia factor, the family factor, the memory factors. It would be great if we could get a replacement for it, but there's quite a commitment there. I think the Vali-Hi's going to be pretty busy next year," Stofferahn said.
The last two movies playing Saturday are "Hotel Transylvania" and "The Amazing Spiderman."
Besides the Vali-Hi, the last remaining drive-in theaters in Minnesota are the Sky-Vu in Warren, the Verne Drive-In, The Long Drive-In in Long Prairie, and the Starlite in Litchfield.
