Drive-in shows, films, meals and even worship help ease lockdowns

ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON, in the car park of a market in the Northern Irish town of Rathfriland, Pastor Ian Wilson stepped up to his pulpit on the back of a builder’s van. Next to him, using a horsebox as a stage, a brother-and-sister duet performed hymns. He then read from the Gospel of John: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The congregation of around 400 people, some of them with scratchy cloth for a pew, others luxuriating on plush leather, watched Pastor Wilson’s sermon from behind the windscreens of their cars. This weekend was the first in which Northern Ireland’s government allowed church services to resume, albeit in a limited form, since the province entered lockdown almost ten weeks ago. The only way congregations can worship together is at “drive-in” services. With covid-19 making big gatherings impossible around the world, many more people are taking part in other activities from the safety of their cars.

Just a handful of churches in Northern Ireland carried out drive-in services this weekend, but more are planning to do so in the coming weeks. They offer a message of hope and something approaching face-to-face contact, says Pastor Wilson, although they cannot offer the same level of interaction as traditional services. Pastor Wilson does not give out hymn sheets, for example, for fear of spreading the disease. He also points out that evangelical Christian churches such as his own, with a tradition of spreading their message widely, are better suited to drive-in services than other churches, which rely on more intimate gatherings in sacred buildings.

Drive-in events have been popular for almost as long as the car. The first patented drive-in movie theatre opened in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey, where audiences paid 25 cents per car, and the same again per occupant, to see the latest pictures. By 1958 more than 4,000 theatres were operating across America, although many closed in the 1970s and 1980s as new forms of entertainment became popular. By last year there were just 305 drive-in theatres left in America, roughly a third fewer than 20 years before, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.

During the pandemic, these remaining theatres have found new audiences desperate for a distraction that does not put them at risk of the virus. “It has been landslide business. The first night we reopened we had a line down the highway half a mile long,” says Steve Bloomer, the owner of the Skyview Drive-In in Belleville, Illinois. Extra precautions, such as spacing cars farther apart and providing masks and hand-sanitiser for staff, ensure that screenings are as safe as possible.

But it is not all good news for theatres. Much of their revenue comes from food-and-drink sales rather than tickets, and worries about infections are putting many audiences off their hot dogs. Few theatres have drive-through concession stands. The Sunset Drive-In in Vermont is asking customers to order snacks by phone or online to avoid unnecessary human contact. Mr Bloomer has limited his menu, and says that sales are not what they would normally be. Another problem is what to show. Big studios are delaying the release of new films while theatres are empty, or releasing them on streaming services instead. This means that to attract viewers drive-in theatres have to rely on classics, rather than the latest blockbusters.

In Denmark, people have much more than just movies available to enjoy from behind the wheel. P Scenen, a drive-in venue on the outskirts of Aarhus, hosts live stand-up comedy, music and TED-style presentations. Mark Chemnitz, who runs the venue, which opened on April 24th, says that it took just nine days after he had the idea to build the stage and put on the first event, a pop concert. Members of the audience (in up to 500 cars) tune in to the event’s sound on their car radios, and, to prevent contagion between vehicles, are allowed to open only their left-hand windows. Alcohol is banned. Live Nation Denmark, an events company, last week began holding its own “Drive In Live” events. The first was a concert by Mads Langer, a Danish pop singer, in the car park of Copenhagen’s airport. Fans in 600 cars, who paid 600kr ($88) per vehicle, danced in their seats and put tealights on their roofs as Mr Langer’s voice came out of their car radios in unison. The events will travel to four more Danish cities over the coming weeks.

While some people are getting into their cars to feed their souls, others are looking for a more mundane kind of nourishment. Last week McDonald’s reopened 33 of its restaurants in Britain for take-away orders. The menu is limited to a few items, and customers can order only at drive-through hatches. Despite these restrictions, lengthy queues quickly formed. The police were called to one branch in the town of Peterborough to control the traffic, and McDonald’s tweeted that they would close again if the demand put staff or customers at risk. Starbucks, which closed its cafes in America in March but kept some drive-through windows open, took in 75% as much revenue as the same period last year in those locations just from customers in cars.

Carmakers have long encouraged people to treat their vehicles as places to spend time in rather than just as a means of transport. Since Cadillac introduced one of the first built-in cupholders in 1957, cars have become plusher and more luxurious. In 2017 Honda unveiled a concept vehicle that “seamlessly connects a home and the car”, complete with pot-plants and a virtual fish-tank. Occupants of Honda’s latest electric car can play Nintendo games on the car’s screens when it is not being driven. But, unless held up by traffic jams, few car-owners choose to spend time in them while stationary.

The pandemic has the potential to make carmakers’ visions a reality. Despite the proliferation of car-sharing and ride-hailing services, much of the rich world still relies on private cars to get around. In 2017 there were 831 vehicles on the road per 1,000 people in America; in western Europe there were 612. And self-driving technology promises to allow people to spend more time in their vehicles without worrying about the pesky task of driving.

Does this mean that more live events will become drive-in, even after covid-19 has subsided? That seems unlikely. Mr Chemnitz imagines that P Scenen’s venue will close after the summer. Denmark will soon allow gatherings of up to 50 people again, and wants to increase that to 500 over the next few months. Similarly, Pastor Wilson plans to run his drive-in church services only during the summer months. As restrictions lift further, people will get out of their cars and once again jostle in pews, concert halls and cinemas. Until then, says Pastor Wilson, “we will take the church wherever we have to take it to get the message out.”