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<p>WEST WYOMING &#8212; Kayla Cunningham and her fianc&#233;, Zachary Erfman celebrated their third anniversary Friday evening in a way few Americans have done in decades.</p><p>The Duryea pair went to a drive-in theater for its grand opening.</p><p>&#8220;We actually got our tickets yesterday,&#8221; Cunningham said as they waited for showtime at the Moonlite Drive-in.</p><p>&#8220;Grand reopening&#8221; may actually be the better term, however.</p><p>Once a popular outdoor movie venue, the original Moonlite faded into obscurity three decades ago, as drive-in theaters across the country rapidly disappeared from the scene.</p><p>New owner Eric Symeon has spent two years getting the Shoemaker Avenue property back into shape, since acquiring the property in 2017.</p><p>&#8220;There was only two of us working on it, clearing the land, doing all new sewers, electric,&#8221; Symeon said.</p><p>The nation&#8217;s first drive-in opened in 1933 in New Jersey. By the 1950s there were between 4,000 and 5,000, according to several news accounts. In 2018 there were just 321, according to statista.com.</p><p>Anticipation mounted as Moonlite&#8217;s big night neared, and the national tally shot up by one.</p><p>Facebook posts on Moonlite&#8217;s official page and a Times Leader story earlier this week were shared hundreds of times as the community looked forward to the drive-in&#8217;s rebirth.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody can&#8217;t wait to come check it out,&#8221; Symeon said.</p><p>Cunningham and Erfman had their SUV turned around and were in the process of setting up blankets and pillows in the back seat to prepare for a comfy movie experience as dusk fell.</p><p>When asked if they were excited for the theater&#8217;s return, Erfman said he &#8220;couldn&#8217;t wait.&#8221;</p><p>Friday&#8217;s showings were &#8220;Abominable,&#8221; a family-friendly animated film from Dreamworks about the Abominable Snowman, and &#8220;Good Boys,&#8221; a decidedly R-rated film about a group of sixth-grade boys hoping to get their first kiss. Erfman and Cunningham said they were excited to see both films.</p><p>Chris Jones, though, was only there for &#8220;Abominable.&#8221; The Hanover Township man was there with his young daughter, Nora, so he needed to keep the night kid-friendly. But that didn&#8217;t stop him from being excited.</p><p>He said it was a fun thing for the family to do, especially since the Garden Drive-In, in Hunlock Creek, is already shut down for the year.</p><p>Nora, meanwhile, could barely contain her excitement, dancing around while her father spoke with a reporter and seeming to have the time of her young life.</p><p>According to Symeon, the theater will be open through the autumn, but will close before winter. An exact final date for the year hasn&#8217;t been set. The Moonlite Drive-In is open Friday and Saturday nights.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Patrons are seen with the hatchback of their car turned toward the screen as the show got underway at the reopened Moonlite Drive-In on Friday evening. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_moonlite_WEB.jpg</photo0><caption0>Patrons are seen with the hatchback of their car turned toward the screen as the show got underway at the reopened Moonlite Drive-In on Friday evening. </caption0><photoCredit0>Patrick Kernan | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Decades after closure, West Wyoming drive-in returns</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Decades after closure, Moonlite Drive-In returns