Kings Mountain drive-in theater — a pandemic staple — to close after 7 years
The Kings Mountain drive-in theater that kept movies and music playing through the COVID-19 pandemic is set to close, the Hound’s Drive-In owner announced this week.
After seven seasons of movies, concerts and even graduations, the standing drive-in — which was featured in TIME Magazine and on 60 Minutes — will close, Preston Brown wrote in a Facebook post.
Strict zoning laws and lack of support from city and county leaders will likely prevent any more drive-ins or campgrounds, Brown said.
After Charlotte-headquartered lithium mining company Albemarle Corp. bought Preston Brown’s properties, he wanted to open a second location for Hound’s Drive-In and its surrounding campground, according to The Shelby Star. County commissioners struck down Brown’s request to rezone the new location along State Road 266 near Buffalo Creek in September, The Star reported.
It is not clear whether Brown still plans to open a new location while working around residential zoning restrictions.
Hound’s Drive-In opened about 40 miles outside Charlotte in 2016 and gained recent popularity as moviegoers and concertgoers commuted from surrounding areas during the pandemic. Graduates and families from Clover High School traveled from South Carolina when the drive-in hosted its graduation in 2020. Touring artists like Garth Brooks and Metallica also performed at the drive-in.
Brown said he will miss not just the typical movie nights, but also the nights when 5,000 hungry customers rushed the concession stand, when fireworks lit up the sky on Fourth of July and when the lot transformed into an Easter Egg hunt. He looks forward to spending time with his wife and son as his seven days a week, 36 weeks a year work schedule becomes a thing of the past.
Brown also thanked his father, Mike Brown, for the support he offered in the journey to become the “#1 Drive-in in the nation.”
But, Brown wrote, there are some things he won’t miss:
“#3 I will not miss getting home at 5 am.
#2 I will not miss working in the rain.
#1 I will not miss having to tell customers to turn their headlights off during the movies.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 1:16 PM.
