McClanahan, 35, who grew up going to Shankweiler\u2019s, had managed another drive-in and started a mobile movie business during the coronavirus pandemic. In contrast, McChesney, 41, had never been to a drive-in before 2018, and she left a stable corporate job in the health care industry to take on this new venture. Buying Shankweiler\u2019s was a risk for both of them \u2014 they pooled their savings and secured a $1 million loan to buy the drive-in in 2022 \u2014 but one they say has paid off.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was an undertaking that was leaps and bounds bigger than anything I\u2019d ever done in my life, in terms of investment, monthly expenses, and debt,\u201d McClanahan said. \u201cIt still feels surreal when I think about it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve built a successful business with the help of strong summer attendance, the occasional big-name film like \u201cWicked,\u201d and special events like Valentine\u2019s Day \u201cdate night\u201d screenings of \u201cThe Notebook.\u201d The drive-in is open seven days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and Thursdays through Sundays the rest of the year. Tickets are $9 for children and $13 for adults.
\nA couple watches the movie \u201cJaws\u201d at the Shankweiler Drive-In in Orefield, Pa., Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)\n<\/p>\n
Ken Querio, 52, of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, has been going to Shankweiler\u2019s since he was a teenager. He made a point to seek out the owners before a recent viewing of \u201cJaws.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI actually thanked them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to have an old-school, an old venue like this still going.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Wilson Shankweiler, a prominent hotel owner and movie buff, opened what was then called Shankweiler\u2019s Park-In Theatre on April 15, 1934. McClanahan and McChesney are its fourth owners.\n<\/p>\n
McChesney said the success of the business played a role in the timing of their engagement.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew we\u2019d eventually get married, but we kept doing other things instead, like starting businesses and buying movie theaters,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
____\n<\/p>\n
Ramer contributed from Concord, New Hampshire.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
McClanahan, 35, who grew up going to Shankweiler\u2019s, had managed another drive-in and started a mobile movie business during the coronavirus pandemic. In contrast, McChesney, 41, had never been to a drive-in before 2018, and she left a stable corporate job in the health care industry to take on this new venture. Buying Shankweiler\u2019s was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11573],"tags":[3389,18694,17408,18695,18696,1790,6868,18697,1992],"class_list":["post-28419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philadelphia-breaking-news","tag-couple","tag-drive-in","tag-drivein","tag-lehigh-county","tag-movie-theaters","tag-oldest","tag-pennsylvania","tag-preserves","tag-theater"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25247638229287.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philadelphia Viral News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"McClanahan, 35, who grew up going to Shankweiler\u2019s, had managed another drive-in and started a mobile movie business during the coronavirus pandemic. In contrast, McChesney, 41, had never been to a drive-in before 2018, and she left a stable corporate job in the health care industry to take on this new venture. Buying Shankweiler\u2019s was…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28421,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28419\/revisions\/28421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}