No Movies This Weekend:
Drive-In Flea Market Instead

Due to technical problems, the Randall Drive-In will be closing early this season, and will not be screening films as scheduled this weekend.

Instead, owner Lauri Girard will hold a weekend-long flea market. Girard is inviting vendors to set up at the site on Rte. 12 between Randolph and Bethel.

She said the flea market will give her a chance to sell the burgers, chicken, fries, and candy bars that she would have sold at the movie screenings. Girard said she won’t be selling popcorn at the market.

Technical failures have dogged the Randall drive-in theater all year, and intensified over the last several weeks, when many films failed part-way through.

Drive-in owner Girard said a hard-to-find 1960s projector part called a rectifier was at fault for the meltdowns.

Girard said she thought she had solved the problem after finding a replacement rectifier at a rummage sale. However, the replacement failed as well, leading to the decision to cancel the screenings this weekend.

The theater will need to "find the right people with the right equipment" before starting up again next May, Girard said.

"We’ll be up and running next year," she said.

Girard said there is no expiration date on courtesy passes issued to patrons who attended movies that failed.

Prospective flea market vendors "can just show up" this weekend, or can call Girard at 234-6857.