Cherry Bowl Drive-In

Northern Michigan is full of Americana experiences, and certainly the Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre just outside of Honor is among the best. The Cherry Bowl is celebrating its 55th birthday this summer and it has become one of the region’s torchbearers for family entertainment.
“We like to say we are family entertainment’s best value in Northern Michigan,” said Harry Clark, who, along with his wife Laura, are the proprietors. “Our philosophy is to provide clean, wholesome affordable family entertainment in a safe environment.”
At $8.50 a ticket for adults, and throw in the fact that every night the Cherry Bowl offers a double feature of first-run movies, it’s not a bargain–it’s a steal.
“Look, there is too much of robbing people without a gun in this country. We try to keep things affordable and still make a buck,” said Clark. “We hear it all the time about the value we give. I will probably die pouring butter over the popcorn because I will never make enough money to retire.”
The Clarks don’t charge for kids under 12 when accompanied by an adult. But the same can’t be said for the filmmakers.
“We pay for everyone that comes through the gate, even the kids we let in for free. In fact, the filmmakers have bumped the prices for kids this year. I will have to write a bigger check this fall to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas -- guess they don’t have enough money yet so they have to collect it from the kids,” laughs Clark. “There are few affordable options for families. So by letting the kids in for free, we become that option.”
ARRIVE EARLY
The Cherry Bowl Drive-In goes beyond just a movie-going experience.
“Our regulars know that you arrive early and pick your spot. Our slogan is rain or shine, dusk is the time,” said Clark. “We offer a lot of activities and dining options when gates open at 7:30 p.m.”
Those activities include ’50s style mini golf putt-putt course, a playground for kids of all ages, beach volleyball court and lots of open space for frisbee and tossing around a football or softball. They even have hula hoops, along with jamming great tunes from the ’50s.
The Cherry Bowl Diner has a variety of selections, from the typical movie theater fare of candy, drinks and popcorn, to a full menu for a family picnic (they have a lot of picnic tables). Besides the basics from hot dogs and chili dogs, the Cherry Bowl offers nachos, popcorn chicken, broasted chicken dinners and homemade pizzas. A must try is Crazy Harry’s BBQ Ribs from Clark’s secret recipe.
Any movie experience is not complete without buttery popcorn. The Cherry Bowl uses real butter and the same popcorn popper from 1953.
“Being close to the Interlochen Arts camp, we get a lot of kids from other countries that get a real kick out of this. Drive-in theatres are real Americana, and for foreigners this is something they have not seen,” said Clark. “We give them tours and they are always amazed by the projection equipment and the old popcorn popper.”
The concept of the drive-in theater was developed in the early ’30s in New Jersey. It spread through the Midwest during the late ’30s and became an American cultural phenomenon. By the early ’60s drive-in theaters reached their peak with more than 4,000 throughout the country.
Rising land prices and the development of the multiplex theaters caused the decline in drive-in theaters. Today there are less than 200 drive-in theaters operating in the United States; 11 of those are in Michigan.

WATCHFUL EYE
For Clark and his family (everyone who works at the Cherry Bowl is considered family and the Clarks even consider their guests part of their family), they take pleasure in how everyone gets along and helps each other out.
“Our guests look out for each other, even total strangers. The big kids look after the little ones by helping them out on the playground,” said Clark. “We have created an environment that allows everyone to escape the realities of the world; there are no stresses at the Cherry Bowl.”
A big part of the family environment is eliminating the possible problem causers, as the Cherry Bowl Drive-In is both drug and alcohol free.
“Another thing that keeps it family friendly is we only show PG or PG-13 films. Just because a film is PG-13 doesn’t mean we will show it. We pre-screen all films first for their content,” said Clark.
“We will not show any films that glamorize teen drinking or smoking.”
Clark laughs at the question he gets all the time: What are you going to show two or three weeks from now?
“We go week to week. I don’t know what I am going to show three weeks from now. There are a lot of variables that come into play,” said Clark. “Sure, I can tell you that at some point this summer we will show the new Batman film -- I just can’t tell you when.”
Clark and his wife are just the second owners of the Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre. They had no intention of being in show-business, but a surprise invitation changed everything.
“My wife is an accountant and I am a finance guy. In 1996 the original owner, Mrs. Griffin, asked us to put a value on the place, as she wanted to sell it,” said Clark. “We looked at everything from the property to the blue sky and gave her a figure. We thought our work was done until she called us the next day and said she wanted us to buy it. My wife and I talked about it and the next thing you know we are in show business.”

BOOMING VOICE
For the Clarks, owning the Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre was a big change.
“We are Detroit corporate dropouts,” said Clark. “We decided more than 20 years ago that we wanted to remove ourselves from the corporate world and live in an environment where we felt good about raising our kids. I work more hours than ever but it is a good feeling to know that I can put in 18–hour days still. Our reward is seeing all the smiling faces; it is worth every minute we work.”
They feel fortunate about the dedicated staff they have that range from 16 to 83.
“We all pitch in. Our philosophy is, whoever is closest to the broom cleans the room,” said Clark. “A local business came to us and asked if they could hire the person who cleans our bathrooms to work for them part time. My wife responded that she was too busy keeping our bathrooms clean to work anywhere else.”
New this year is the Cherry Bowl Gifts and Goodies located right next door. The gift shop has an assortment of goodies from Amish crafts to t-shirts to build-a-bear buddy.
“We took our granddaughter to one of those build-a-bear operations and it was $54. For her to make the same bear at our place, it is $22,” said Clark.
The Cherry Bowl Drive-In is like no other experience in Northern Michigan. Clark’s booming voice is constantly coming through the speaker system leading up to movie time with all sorts of upbeat announcements. He and his staff go to great lengths to make visitors feel welcomed.
“Our guests become members of our family,” said Clark. “We announce first-time visitors and birthdays and everyone lays on their horns to salute the honorees of the night. We hold hula-hoop contests and even have characters from some of the films show up sometimes. Everyone coming through has a chance to win with our lucky numbers drawing. My staff gives more stuff away than I can keep track of. I think we are having as much fun every night as our guests.”

The Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre is now open seven nights a week. Located just one mile past (or before) Honor on U.S. 31, the gates open at 7:30 pm and the first film starts at dusk. Additional infor-mation is at cherrybowldrivein.com or call
231-325-3415 for the 24-hour hotline. View On Our Website