Show Must Go On As Ruskin Family Drive-in Prepares To Reopen

The Ruskin Family Drive-In Theatre, with more than 50 years of continuous service to the Ruskin and South Hillsborough County, has been a community gathering place since its first movie, Singing in the Rain, played in 1952.

“My husband Ted has been working at the drive-in since the first day it opened,” said owner Karen Freiwald. “The visitors who attended opening night were really ‘singing in the rain’ because it was rain on that first night.”

Memories from opening night to present day have been something the Ruskin Family Drive-In has made for many people in the Ruskin community.

“We call it the ‘last family drive-in’ in the USA because families, dating couples, single parents with children and everyone else young and old can come and visit us,” Freiwald said. “We had family values when family values were the rule. We still have family values; although, by some, we’re not considered cool.”

Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc on Ruskin’s beloved family drive-in.

“The drive-in offered great movies, good food and peace and quiet on a continuous basis,” Freiwald said. “We had a 2,000-square-foot screen, clean restrooms, snack bar and clean parking lot. Now, most of the drive-in was destroyed by Hurricane Milton. We estimate the damage between $100K to $150K.”

The couple had evacuated before the storm hit the Ruskin area, so they really didn’t know how much damage was done to the drive-in.

“We didn’t have power where we evacuated to, so it took us a while to see pictures of the damage,” Freiwald said. “When the roads were finally cleared and we were able to come back to the drive-in, we were devastated by all the damage the drive-in had sustained.”

The Ruskin community was also devastated that the drive-in was destroyed, but the community came together to help the couple rebuild their drive-in. A GoFundMe account was made for the drive-in and the donations started to pour in. The donations were not big, but each one started to add up, and currently there is more than $21K in its account.

“We are overwhelmed by the community support,” Freiwald said. “Donny Buzee rallied the community to help us rebuild and we are so grateful for all Donny and the community has done for us and the drive-in.”

Construction on the drive-in has been moving along very quickly.

“So many businesses have donated supplies, and the community is so supportive,” Freiwald said. “We are hoping to be reopened by Thanksgiving, and the movie we are planning on showing is Moana 2.”

If you would like to learn more about the Ruskin Family Drive-In, you can visit its website at www.ruskinfamilydrivein.com. If you would like to contribute to their GoFundMe account, you can go the link and donate at https://gofund.me/f30ac350. The Ruskin Family Drive-In Theatre is located at 5011 N. U.S. 41 in Ruskin.