Bridgewater, Va. – A Shenandoah Valley family tradition for over 70 years, Hull’s Drive-In Movie Theater, located in Lexington, Va, is a community-owned, non-profit working towards land ownership by the end of September 2021. 

Since their inception in the 1930s, drive-in movie theaters have dwindled from nearly 4,000 establishments nation-wide, to less than 400.

“What happens to a lot of drive-in theaters is that the land becomes more valuable than the drive-in business itself,” said Hull’s Executive Director Lauren Summers.

At the end of 2019, the landowners of Hull’s offered a purchasing option for the property and a deadline to raise $350,000 by September of this year. 

“We are really close to our goal and it’s looking very much like we’ll be able to purchase the land,” said Summers. “We’ve been incredibly thankful for all of the community support from both businesses and individuals who have stepped up to the plate so we can have this last piece of the puzzle.” 

In addition to offering family-friendly weekend-night movies, Hull’s has hosted a variety of community events including graduation ceremonies, weddings, annual meetings and vaccination clinics. 

“I sincerely hope that we can preserve Hull’s for future generations,” said Summers. “The fact that the community felt so strongly about not losing it and rallied behind Hull’s to help it from closing down shows the value of it to the folks here.”