You're sixteen years old. It's 1967. Your dad drops you off at the Cottage View Drive-In with three bucks in your pocket and instructions to find your own ride home.

Nine hundred fifty cars. A screen the size of a barn. Popcorn grease and mosquito coils. You watch the sun drop behind the projection booth and think: this is what summer is supposed to feel like.

That drive-in is a Walmart now.

THE PALACE ERA

Before multiplexes, the suburbs had movie palaces. Single screens with velvet curtains and marquees that burned through the night.

The Riviera Theatre opened in Hastings in 1938. Streamline Moderne. Six hundred thirty-two seats. Operated by Berger Amusement Company. It sat at 2nd and Sibley, right in downtown. A vertical marquee you could see from three blocks away.

Shakopee got its own theater in 1937. Four hundred seventy seats. It ran into the late 1950s, though its exact location has slipped from the record. By the time anyone thought to write it down, the building was already gone.

THE DRIVE-IN SUMMERS

The Prior Lake Drive-In opened June 1963. Two hundred fifty cars. Ran for fifteen summers before closing in 1978.

The Cottage View in Cottage Grove opened August 24, 1966. Nine hundred fifty cars. Forty-six years of double features and carload nights. Kids in sleeping bags in pickup beds. It closed September 27, 2012.

THE MULTIPLEX YEARS

The Apple Valley 6 opened February 3, 1989. Discount house. Buck fifty admission. It's a grade school now.

The Hastings Marcus Cinema opened in 1986, expanded to nine screens by 1997. Closed May 23, 2023. Now it's Connell's Custom Exteriors and a salon.

The Shakopee Town Square opened mid-1990. Expanded to eleven screens. Closed January 10, 2023.

Two major south-metro multiplexes gone within five months of each other.

WHAT SURVIVES

The Riviera closed as a movie theater decades ago, but the building's still there. The old marquee is still visible from the street. Black Dirt Theater, a community theater group, now uses the space.

The Elko Drive-In opened in 2014 at Elko Speedway. Racing on the track, movies on the screen. It's the only drive-in left in Dakota or Scott County.

Emagine Lakeville added a new IMAX in December 2025, described as Minnesota's largest screen.

The movies aren't dead in the south metro. But the texture has changed. The single-screen palaces are gone. The drive-ins are mostly gone. What's left is reserved seating, reclining chairs, a full bar in the lobby.

Different ritual. Same escape.

Where to Watch Fourth of July Fireworks in the South Metro

The Fourth lands on a Saturday this year, and the south metro has options from Lakeville's Pan-O-Prog to Eagan's Funfest to Mystic Lake's free Rock and Rockets show. Canterbury Park kicks things off Friday night, and Valleyfair wraps your coaster day with a patriotic sky show. Full times, locations, and what's happening at each spot inside.

Lakeville Planning Commission Backs New Mosque

After a nearly 90-minute hearing with 20-plus speakers, the commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a new Al-Hadi Association mosque on a wooded 3.75-acre lot. Most speakers supported it; a few neighbors raised concerns about traffic, parking, and drainage on the dead-end street.

643 Parkside Ct, Eagan

➡️ 4 bed, 4 bath, 0.52 acres
➡️ 2 fireplaces (brick/stone gas + electric) & main level office
➡️ Custom stone retaining wall, landscaped pond & multiple patio spaces

Price: $725,000

MLS #7098876

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Parlour 9 Ladies Night at Threads & Co (Lakeville) A private shopping party at 4pm celebrating 10 years of Parlour 9 with 10% off summer arrivals at Threads & Co. Shop the party.

Triple Play Tuesdays at Grand Slam (Burnsville) Unlimited laser tag, mini golf, and Krazy Kars plus a $3 arcade card for just $12.95 per person from 4-8pm. Play all night.

Buck Hill Community Mountain Bike Ride (Burnsville) A free Tuesday evening mountain bike ride at 6pm open to all ages and ability levels, perfect if you're new to riding dirt or training for race season. Hit the trails.

Junior Royalty Pageant (Lakeville) The annual crowning of Little Miss and Little Master Lakeville at 6:30pm at the Arts Center, free for spectators and no Festival Button needed. See the crowning.

Wild Workouts: Mindful Nature Immersion at the Zoo (Apple Valley) A guided mindfulness and nature immersion experience at 6:30pm at the Minnesota Zoo, part meditation, part nature walk, and wholly restorative. Find your calm.

Weekly Wheels Car + Bike Meets at Buck Hill (Burnsville) Hundreds of standout cars, trucks, and motorcycles fill the Buck Hill parking lot at 5pm with live music and eats from Buck 54. Cruise in.

Picnics in the Park at Camfield Park (Rosemount) Pack your dinner and head to Camfield Park at 5:30pm for a special Fourth of July themed evening with patriotic music. Pack a picnic.

Casting with the Cops (Apple Valley) A free youth fishing event at 5:30pm for Apple Valley Freedom Days where kids fish alongside local officers, pre-registration required. Cast a line.

LIVE AT THE LAKE: Revved Up (Lakeville) A free outdoor concert at 6pm at Casperson Park with a visiting Swedish Men's Choir as the opener and Revved Up playing pop, rock, and country covers, plus food trucks. Hear the music.

Spider-Man Trivia at OMNI (Rosemount) Brush up on the Spider-Verse of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland at 7pm before Brand New Day hits theaters. Spin a web.

World Cup: USA vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina Watch Party (Lakeville) The first game of the knockout rounds at 7pm at B-52 Burgers & Brew, and it also happens to be wing night. Watch the game.

Wanderlight Trail at the Minnesota Zoo (Apple Valley) The immersive lantern trail transforms the Zoo grounds at 7:30pm into a glowing evening adventure with larger-than-life lanterns. Light the way.See all events