Small Business Spotlight: Fresh Air Cinema offers personalized drive-in movie screenings

May 8 2020, 1:25 pm

For many Canadians, pulling up to a drive-in movie, blankets and snacks in hand, may feel like more of a novelty than a regular night out.

Fresh Air Cinema is determined to change this.

The Canadian-based company is the leading and largest outdoor movie event provider in the country. Since 2006, it has provided outdoor movie equipment to companies, municipalities, and community groups that want to put on a unique outdoor experience.

Parks, churches, neighbourhoods, shopping centres, and parking lots — no matter the venue, Fresh Air Cinema can turn it into a custom-made movie theatre in a matter of hours.

But the company doesn’t just provide solutions for large-scale community events. It’s ready to provide a complete drive-in movie theatre — delivered to your door (or, well, nearby field or parking lot).

Fresh Air Cinema

Attendees to a screening can expect to see giant four-storey inflatable movie screens with high definition projectors. The movie’s sound is transmitted wirelessly to your car stereo so you can tune in and relax.

Part of the appeal of the showings is that they can be set up anywhere — literally. In summer 2012, Fresh Air Cinema assisted in the first-ever Sail-In Cinema, a Toronto-based event that transformed Toronto Harbour into an outdoor theatre, complete with a two-sided screen set atop a barge.

Residents were encouraged to watch the spectacle from the beach while boat owners could drop an anchor and watch from the comfort of their decks.

Other events have taken Fresh Air Cinema across the country, from Kelowna, British Columbia, to Lake Louise in Alberta, all the way to Winkler, Manitoba.

With many big Hollywood movies being postponed this year due to the pandemic, movie buffs and families alike are still seeking alternative avenues to get their cinema fix. It appears as though a drive-in movie is a safe alternative to entertain communities while providing social distancing standards.

In fact, some drive-ins in the States have seen an increase in business as residents look for safe ways to stay entertained. Fresh Air Cinema is seeing the positive effects of this on their business, too. “The revitalization of the Drive-In movie has increased traffic to our company since the middle of March,” says Jason Bashnick, Founder and Managing Partner of Fresh Air Cinema.

Those interested in hosting a drive-in cinematic experience or learning more about viewings in their area can visit www.freshaircinema.ca for more information.

Leah BjornsonLeah Bjornson

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