It’s currently the oldest continually operating drive-in theater in the state, according to its owner
by Tim Nekritz | nekritz@gmail.com
It’s a pretty perfect and cool summer night and children run around playing as they wait for the Midway Drive-In’s featured attraction to begin. Kids who barely even know each other play tag and duck-duck-goose, while teens hit around a volleyball.
Then the big screen lights up, families gather on blankets, in portable chairs or in their vehicles, mirroring the way this magical outdoor theater has entertained generations.
And yet the road to the Midway’s 76th season, which began in June with a sold-out screening of “Inside Out 2” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” has been far from easy, especially for the last decade.
Once upon a time, in the 1950s, the American drive-in was a cultural icon and booming business, as more than 5,000 such establishments brought outdoor entertainment across the U.S. map. Today, less than 300 remain, making the Midway and other remaining drive-ins a link between past, present and future.
The Midway spans back past even those halcyon days. In 1948, brothers Irving and Ruben Canter established what has become a seasonal institution and intergenerational tradition along Route 48 near Minetto and between Oswego and Fulton, a geographical midway stop for family entertainment.
A love story
For the Nagelschmidt family, the Midway’s current owners, their role with the drive-in began as a love story more than 60 years ago.
“My mom and dad, Judy and John Nagelschmidt V, were both born and raised in Oswego,” said John Nagelschmidt, who steers the helm of the family business. “They first became close in 1961, when each of them began working at the Midway to save money for college at SUNY Oswego. In 1966 they married, began managing the theater and my father began his teaching career at G. Ray Bodley High School in Fulton. They even lived in a small apartment under the screen that had been built by the Midway founding brothers, Irving and Ruben Canter.”
Growing up in the family business gave John perspective as to why the drive-ins in general and the Midway locally, claim such a large place in the communities where they still exist.
“Drive-ins are so special because they provide a fun and relaxing environment to escape from the daily grind,” Nagelschmidt said. “It’s a great place for everything from family outings to first dates; to solo nights out and meeting up with old friends and new.”
On the gorgeous Friday night in late June when my son and I were among a very full field settling in for “Inside Out 2,” you could see the sense of community and wonder that spans decades in this vast space. The concession stand was humming as plenty of popcorn, soda, pizza and more moved efficiently. A crowd spanning all ages and walks of life shared a communal experience that is increasingly rare in these days of smaller digital screens.
“The magic really settles into the lush Midway at showtime when the screen lights go off and the big screen lights up, with a beautiful sunset as the backdrop,” Nagelschmidt said. “That soon gives way to stars on the big screen and shooting stars above. Add a soft breeze and it’s paradise on Earth.”
But running a drive-in hasn’t always been heaven for any proprietor.
“By the ‘80s, American drive-in theater attendance had long been declining,” Nagelschmidt explained. “The home video revolution and VCRs were the death knell for most drive-ins that remained.”
By this time, larger corporations were purchasing drive-ins from the mom-and-pop operations, given the decreasing margins. AT-KO Canton owned the Midway at the time, with many other theatrer.
“In 1987 AT-KO Canton … offered the Midway to my parents at a reasonable price and they went for it,” Nagelschmidt said. “It was a labor of love. I feel Mom and Dad made a big impact on the entire drive-in theater industry, as they shifted focus to a family-emphasized model. My dad, John Nagelschmidt V, was, and still is, legendary in the small but tight-knit drive-in theater owners community.”
The younger John Nagelschmidt went back to work for his father in 2013, as the Midway transitioned from 35mm analog film to digital.
“We had ongoing problems with our new $100,000 digital projection system setup,” Nagelschmidt said. “My dad was forced to cancel more shows in those first two digital seasons than he had in his previous 52 seasons combined. Each night, we never knew if the show would start when I hit the play button. We both gained quite a few gray hairs.”
A community rallies
An even bigger disaster loomed as a microburst with severe thunderstorms ripped through the area on July 8, 2014, destroying the site’s original 66-year-old wooden screen tower.
But in that hour of darkness, just like in classic movies, the community came together to ensure the screen would glow again.
“Our community rallied to the rescue and contributed almost half the cost of the replacement screen tower,” Nagelschmidt recalled. “The Midway was nearly destroyed, but it roared back to life just two months after the storm. All in thanks to the intense work of hundreds of people and the generosity of thousands.”
But even that setback paled in comparison to April 2017, when John Nagelschmidt V died after suffering massive injuries in a backhoe accident on site.
“It was the hardest challenge of my life so far, to run the show without ‘Big John,’” said the man who sometimes refers to himself as “Little John.” Once again, amid tragedy, the drive-in’s community was there for support.
“He was the man behind the curtain,” he said. “I had so much to learn and I had to learn it quick, while still in an extended state of shock and disbelief that my dad had really died that way, in the shadow of the screen that this community built together. His lifetime was cinematic, with a stunning finale. I’m infinitely grateful that folks came together to save the drive-in and, in the process, proved to my dad just how much his life’s work was appreciated.”
Even as the next generation “still felt Dad’s spirit strongly at his cherished Midway and we carried on as we knew he would insist,” Nagelschmidt said, the COVID-19 pandemic “was a near-killer.”
“We’re still digging our way out of that hole,” Nagelschmidt said. “While drive-ins got a lot of attention as one of the first public places to reopen, Hollywood pulled all their films from release. For two to three seasons we had very little new content to play. And while a night at the drive-in is a much broader experience than just watching a movie, crowd size is very dependent on the mass appeal of the titles we are showing each week.”
Studios, with traditional movie theatres as their primary distribution focus, turned to streaming of new releases sooner than usual, sometimes simultaneously with their debut in theaters.
“Many, many movie venues, indoor and out, were forced to shut down permanently, as people increasingly stayed home on their devices,” Nagelschmidt said. “But, I think the industry is coming back to life.”
Little John had his own health challenge this year, as just when he was preparing to gear up for 2024, he had strong diverticulitis attacks, leading to a major surgery and month-long hospitalization. That set back opening night by six months. Nagelschmidt worried about not taking better care of himself, but appreciated the support and patience of the drive-in’s “awesome community” during his recuperation.
“I love my homeland of Oswego County and Central New York,” Nagelschmidt said. “There’s no place I’d rather be. People here are as good as they come.”
And those supporters have been key to surviving “a wild past decade,” he noted.
“Night by night, it’s really our cherished regular customers that carried me through the loss of my dad and they still do today,” Nagelschmidt said. “They mourned alongside me. When the entire facility suddenly felt so much different than I’d known it since I was a baby, the smiling faces of our regulars were the consistency that buoyed me. Every season, new folks discover us, new friends are made and countless memories continue to be born under the stars in beautiful Minetto. We can only be there because folks keep coming back.”
Behind the scenes, the team remains strong, seamlessly and cheerfully taking care of the large crowds that greeted the opening of the 2024 season.
“I have taken on my dad’s role as a kind of ‘captain of the ship’, but there’s no way I could’ve gotten through any of it without the dedicated work and tireless support of my family and our beloved staff,” Nagelschmidt said. “My mom has been a miracle worker. She should be credited just as vigorously as my father for their steadfast efforts in sustaining the majestic Midway through all these years.”
Looking forward
The 2024 season started tremendously with the hot blockbuster of “Inside Out 2” which helped drive-in theaters everywhere by packing in the cars and families. But Nagelschmidt continues to look forward to how to meet the challenges of running a small business that relies on summer weather and Hollywood hits.
“We have lots of plans to streamline and expand our concession services to reduce wait times on busy nights,” Nagelschmidt said. “Purchases in our snack bar really keep the lights on, because the studios take at least half of each admission ticket we sell. We’re off to a great start to finally turn a profit for the first time in years and we invest every penny back into the business. There’s always expensive upgrades that need to be made, most notably in keeping up with the ever-changing technology of digital cinema.”
Despite the obstacles, the Midway Drive-In remains more than a business — it is an asset that unites and benefits from the community.
“But one of the really special things about the Midway is that when we all come together there, we not only step out of our hectic realities for a relaxing evening,” Nagelschmidt said. “We also step back in time. We at the theater try our hardest to adapt to change, while retaining the classic Americana charm that folks have known and loved at the Midway Drive-In Theater, for generations.”
And those generations keep the drive-in experience, and the Midway, alive and thriving on many a summer night.
“It’s so neat to see parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles bringing the next generation and continuing the cycle of tradition at the Midway,” Nagelschmidt said. “For many of us here in Oswego County and Central New York, the Midway is all we know of the great American drive-in experience. It’s currently the oldest continually operating drive-in theater in the state.”
It remains a family business, with John’s sister, Heidi, her partner, Bill Hayden, and her grown son, Mitchell, among the team still making the magic happen. The Nagelschmidts realize that their role remains key to what has become a community treasure.
“l consider my parents true heroes in keeping the tradition alive; from when they started working there when the drive-in was only 13 years old, until today,” Nagelschmidt said. “My family is dedicated to carrying on the tradition of our community’s little gathering place on the river, where we can all meet mid-way and leave our differences at home. But we consider ourselves just the caretakers. It is this community’s trademark devotion that has indelibly intertwined the Midway into our local history. It’s rich with cherished memories for generations of folks, forged over the past 76 straight summers.”
TIM NEKRITZ is director of news and media for SUNY Oswego, where he spearheads telling the stories of the campus community.
