Halloween 'Spook-tacular' Comes to the Drive-In

It may be late October, but the Southington Drive-In Committee has one more treat for area residents this Halloween season: a “spook-tacular” double feature to satisfy people of all ages.

The show will officially mark the end of the 2011 season at the town-owned and committee member Michael Riccio said the last set of movies, Hocus Pocus for children and a movie from the horror-series Halloween provides multiple opportunities for local residents.

“During the summer, we can only show one movie per night but this provides us a different opportunity,” Riccio said. “There’s a chance for kids to get dressed up and enjoy their movie, then we will have an intermission to allow families to leave before the adult-oriented second movie.”

The idea for one final showing of the season came after Hurricane Irene forced organizers to cancel a movie at the end of August, Riccio said. Halloween only seemed like a natural fit for organizers.

Dawn Miceli, a member of the drive-in committee, said they are expecting a good turnout and she has received many questions from residents about when gates open since a flyer went out to all elementary school families last week. It’s a program that has been requested since the drive-in opened for it’s first season in 2010.

To see the flyer, and look at the PDF above.

The program will also include costume parade and the first-ever “trunk-or-treating” event, she said.

“As we were researching online, we found this was something that has been done in other parts of the country and it was a perfect fit for the drive-in venue,” Miceli said. “We wanted to reward the kids for dressing up and ‘trunk-or-treating’ seemed like the best way to do so.”

Although this is the last show of the season, it is the first that will directly benefit the Southington Drive-In movie fund, Miceli said.

Each of the previous movies have been sponsored by organizations and non-profits throughout the community and were staffed by members of the organization in exchange for profits of $800 per group. This movie, however, will be organized and run by friends and family in order to raise money for maintenance and other costs.

Riccio said the committee is also working alongside the in an effort to host a bonfire. The bonfire is pending subject to the drive-in committee receiving proper municipal permits.

Riccio and Miceli said they would like to see the program become an annual event but will determine how to proceed in 2012 based on the response this year. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. and tickets are $10 per carload for Southington residents, $13 per carload for non-residents and $2 for walk-ins.

“The real goal is just to have a fun, end-of-the season celebration,” Miceli said.