OPINION - Editorial

EDITORIAL: The solution

While bits and pieces of the state are starting to show signs of life, one sector that's still mostly dead: movie theaters. It's hard to social distance in a crowded theater.

Some of us miss going to the theaters. Getting out of the house for a couple hours, buying a large popcorn and a soda, sitting back and watching something play on the big screen--it's a favorite experience.

There's a compromise, though. And to find it, we turn back to a business that was more popular in the 1950s than today: the drive-in movie theater. For any young people reading the paper today (thank you!), the idea behind a drive-in theater is simple. You sit in your car in a parking lot and watch movies between a couple of speakers. Back in our day, each parking space had a speaker, about the size of a shower head, that you could hang in your window.

It's an actual business. And they used to be popular. Now, they may be coming back thanks to the pandemic.

Fayetteville has a drive-in theater called the 112 Drive In (it sits on Arkansas 112), and the locals love it. During the warmer season, the drive-in shows all sorts of movies.

It turns out Mountain View and Marshall also have operating drive-in theaters. Looks like the Ozarks gave these businesses some kind of staying power. So if you live in one of those towns, enjoy your drive-in. You're ahead of the rest of the state right now.

As for the rest of us, maybe see if your local chamber of commerce is doing a movies in the park or something. Just keep those masks on and sit six feet apart. Safety first!

Editorial on 05/29/2020

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