Big Mo reopens, starts seventh decade in Aiken County
May 16—MONETTA — One of Aiken County's biggest small-town attractions is back in business, following a 14-month shutdown.
The Monetta Drive-In Theater, largely known as "The Big Mo," opened for business Friday evening, welcoming hundreds of customers for the first time since March 2020, when COVID-19 crept into South Carolina and precautions slapped down entertainment venues around the state.
Co-owners Richard and Lisa Boaz are aiming for a season to run through the end of November, as has been the norm in pre-pandemic years. The idea, Lisa said, is to offer service "as long as the movies are there and people keep coming out," and that means Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, "rain or moon," as Lisa phrased it.
The theater was established in 1951, making this its 70th anniversary year, including for the period from 1985, when it closed, until the late 1990s. The Boazes bought the theater in 1998 and opened it back up in 1999.
"We love it," said West Columbia resident Lisa Bolton, arriving to see "Godzilla vs. Kong," one of relatively few big-budget movies to have been released since the arrival of COVID-19. She was with her husband, Greg, and their son Wilder, 9.
She added, "We've been waiting for this to open up. We really enjoy it, and it's a very fun date night, but also, when there's a good kids' movie, we like to bring them, too."
Her husband noted that The Big Mo played host to an unusual gathering in September 2020, under tightly controlled conditions, for a viewing of "Party Hard," a adult-oriented comedy filmed in Columbia, in the Five Points area, by son Hunter. An Amazon film series was also part of the 2020 action, along with a few concerts.
Longtime employees on board for the Boazes this season include Kimberly York, helping distribute such creations as popcorn, nachos, pizza, funnel cake, fried Oreos (in the summer), chocolate chip cookies (in the fall), hot dogs and hamburgers, along with a variety of seasonal peach items, reflecting Monetta's location in spectacularly productive peach country. A massive peach, to house a digital projector, was added to The Big Mo's main field in 2014, above the concession stand.
Lisa Boaz noted that the facility, in 1951, began as a single-screen operation. Another screen was added in 2005 and a third came in 2011, both with the help of a neighbor with expertise in heavy equipment, to help with placement of poles and proper ramping, to ensure good screen visibility for rows of customers.
Recalling the 2020 mini-season, she added, "We opened at the beginning of March, so we got two or three weeks in before we closed."
The 70th anniversary, she said, will mean more "retro movies" being shown. "Hollywood's release schedule is a little bit sparse, so we're going to fill in with some movies that played at the drive-in over the last 70 years."
"Iron Giant," she said, is one such attraction on track for the near future. The season's first pairings are "Godzilla vs. Kong" with "Nomadland" and "Spiral" with "The Blair Witch Project," along with the family-friendly options of "Tom and Jerry" with "Sonic the Hedgehog." Offerings change, at least in part, from week to week.
The theater is at 5822 Columbia Highway North, and the gates — or rope, in this case — normally opens at 7 p.m., with movies starting at about 8:45 p.m.
