The Tee Pee Drive-In theater along old Route 66 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, will hold its grand opening on April 15 with a free car show before its movie screenings.
The remaining tickets for the opening-night movie screenings of “The Super Mario Brothers Movie” and “Despicable Me” are fast running out. They can be ordered here. The free car show will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A soft opening with a screening of “The Super Mario Brothers Movie” also is scheduled for April 14.
Haley Smalley, operations manager, talked to Channel 2 in Tulsa about the upcoming event:
A few years ago, the vacant drive-in was run down and dirty with over-grown grass.
Now it’s been completely renovated with new decking, a new playground, a new projector, concessions, and a few Airbnb trailers. Smalley told 2 News the only thing the same is the layout of the property and the screen itself.
She said one of the new owners is from Sapulpa and says restoring this part of town is important to her.
“They wanted to kind of build up Sapulpa. Make it more of a luxurious town and kind of build it back up,” Smalley said. “It was kind of starting to go down a little bit, and what better way than one of Joanie’s childhood memories to build up.”
Once open, the Tee Pee will show double features nightly until about Halloween.
The Tee Pee held its first movie screenings in more than 20 years in October for a Halloween-themed event.
The Tee Pee also announced it is taking reservations here and here for overnight stays in its vintage Spartan trailers on the property.
The Kante Group, which owns several other historic buildings in Sapulpa, purchased the Tee Pee property in 2021 and began renovations in earnest. That included a newly created and elaborate neon sign, seen above.
The Tee Pee Drive-In was built in 1950. The last movie shown there before it previously closed was in 1999 or 2000.
The theater’s location on the old Ozark Trail alignment of Route 66. That semi-rural stretch served as the Mother Road from 1926 to 1952 and includes the 1925 Rock Creek Bridge as a landmark.
(Image of the Tee Pee Drive-In’s neon sign in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, via Facebook)