BROWNVILLE (AP) – Two couples in this small town are so certain drive-in movie theaters are coming back that they’ve opened their own.

Don and John Belvin and their wives, Coleen and Kristen, planned to show “Grease” and “American Graffiti” for $3 per person at their outdoor amphitheater along Route 11 in the Piscataquis County town. Children under 7 get in for free.

Only five drive-in theaters operate in the state, all but one in southern Maine, Don Belvin said. But he doesn’t think it will stay that way for long.

“We believe that it’s something that actually is coming back and we just wanted to jump the gun and get ahead of the game,” Belvin said.

The Belvins will show movies on a 14-by-20 foot screen and play sound over a public address system. Future plans call for an FM transmitter playing through moviegoers’ car radios.

The Belvins plan to show family movies every weekend, along with a mix of concerts by tribute bands at the amphitheater site, where there’s enough space for 300 to 500 people who can sit in their cars or bring their lawn chairs.

and make themselves home.

The Belvins’ will run a concession stand from their general store near the movie site.

“It’s a huge investment, it’s a huge risk we’re taking, but we believe it will be supported, said Belvin, who recalls happy times in his youth when his family would go to the Milo drive-in.

Drive-ins first appeared in America in the 1950s, and soared to popularity through the decade. The Web site Drive-Ins.com says there were as many as 4,063 drive-ins across the nation by 1958. As of 2005, a little more than 400 drive-ins remained, but about 40 of them new theaters built since 1990.

Among the entrepreneurs in other states looking to cash in on the nostalgia attached to drive-ins is Martin Murray.

About 20 miles south of Dallas, Texas, Murray cleared 30 acres of rural pasture and built a drive-in to ’50s standards. He runs vintage commercials rescued from Hitchcock-era reels before the main features.

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