New Drive-In Opens At Speedway 660

Residents in the Fredericton area have a new way to watch movies on the big screen.

Rucker’s Reels drive-in opened on the grounds of Speedway 660 in Geary on July 10.

Brent Roy, the managing partner of the drive-in, said the pandemic played a “major part” in getting this idea off the ground.

“It really gave us a push to give this stuff going and really to give people an opportunity to do some stuff with their families, do some stuff with their friends that are maybe in their bubble and get out and have some fun,” said Roy in a phone interview.

“We had a big open parking lot that we really weren’t doing a whole lot with, so with COVID-19 really putting a damper on the beginning of the [race] season, we decided that we should do something with all that real estate.”

After the decision was made among the families who own the speedway, Roy said the drive-in theatre was up and running in a short amount of time.

Nearly 100 cars showed up for the opening night of Rucker’s Reels and they received a lot of great feedback, said Roy.

“Everybody had an awesome time. We learned lots as we went, but at the same time, everybody had all sorts of positive things to say, as well,” he said.

“We weren’t really sure how many people were going to show up on opening day, so we had some nervous jitters about that. But we were well under capacity as far as maximum capacity goes.”

With physical distancing between vehicles, Roy estimated they can fit upwards of 250 cars at the site.

In addition to an on-site canteen, Rucker’s Reels also has a different food truck on site each weekend.

“With them not having some of these outdoor events to be able to go to, it’s really cool to be able to give some of those people an outlet to have another facility to serve,” said Roy.

Movies will show every Friday night and either Saturday or Sunday night, depending on the racing schedule that weekend.

“Because it shares the facility with the racetrack, we can’t show a movie at the same time as the race just because racing is a little loud,” said Roy.

The gates open at 7:30 p.m. and the movies start at dusk. Admission is $30 per vehicle.

You can find which movies are playing on the Rucker’s Reels Facebook page.