Saco water park owners rescue iconic Maine drive

The stage – or rather, the screen – is set for the grand re-opening on Friday of an iconic drive-in theater in Saco that nearly closed for good last year.

The Saco Drive-In, which had been operating under different owners since the 1930s, announced in March 2022 that it would be ending its run. Now, Wesley and Judith Hurst, the owners of Aquaboggan Water Park, have stepped in to keep the local attraction alive.

The drive-in's former property has since been sold, but this year Aquaboggan's parking lot has a new addition off to one side: a 50-foot movie screen.

"I always forget how big this thing is until I walk down here," Ethan Mongue, 32, the park's general manager, said as he stood under the new screen.

According to driveinmovie.com, the Saco Drive-In opened in 1939, and is the third-oldest drive-in still operating in the U.S. (Lynn Auto Theatre in Strasburg, Ohio, opened in 1937 and Shankweller's Drive-In, in Orefield, Pennsylvania, opened in 1934.)

The Hursts built the water park in 1978 on Portland Road, across the street from the theater.

Mongue started working at the park as a part-time seasonal employee in 2008 and remembered the drive-in well.

"We would always go over there, after we were done working here," he said.

Former Biddeford Mayor Mark Johnston, now 71, said at age 16 he worked at the drive-in doing various maintenance tasks and "almost everything," while his brother worked as a projectionist and his mother worked the ticket booth and concession stand.

"It was a family affair," he said.

Jim LaBelle, executive director of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce, said said the community took the announcement of the drive-in's closure hard.

"You hate to lose something that, for generations, has been an important part of the entertainment scene," he said.

Mongue said he thought so highly of the longtime entertainment venue that he described the announcement of its closure as "a shocking experience."

"This is one of two landmarks in the community," he said, referring to the water park as the other.

For an undisclosed price, the Hursts bought most of the equipment from the old drive-in, including an $80,000 movie projector, which the previous owners had won in a contest. The Hursts bought the drive-in's old sign, and plan to refurbish it. They even bought the old speaker poles, which used to be mounted at individual parking spaces.

Mongue said today, audio is broadcast directly into the cars through a dedicated FM radio frequency, making the speakers unnecessary, but said he would try to find a way to utilize the poles.

Mongue added he hoped the drive-in will be as state-of-the-art as possible.

"They haven't gotten to the point where they use an app that I know of, but I’m sure that's not too far behind," he said.

Starting Friday, Mongue said, the drive-in will be open on the weekends only, then in mid-June the park plans to open the drive-in nightly from Wednesday through Sunday.

He plans to screen a mix of first-run and classic films. The park is even converting an old ice-cream stand structure into a concession stand for moviegoers.

Mongue plans to add more spaces at the lot in the dirt where the pavement ends. The drive-in's capacity, he said, should be about 175 cars.

When the park itself opens for the summer on June 24, Mongue said he hopes the drive-in will serve as a nice nighttime counterpart to the park.

"Water park by day, drive-in by night," he said. "That's my new mantra."

LaBelle agreed that the two businesses could support each other.

"I think it's a good synergy," he said. "It feels like a good all day and night opportunity for Aquaboggan."

Johnston said he was still sad to see the original location close own, but added he and the public were happy to see the Saco Drive-In live on: "Let's hope it lasts as long as it did on the easterly side (of Portland Road)."