Local Drive-in theater shutting down for good
‘Loco Drive-in’ closing its doors after four years, hosted UT watch parties, movie nights and festivals
LOUDON CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) - For years, the Loco Drive-in has been a place for neighbors in Loudon County to go enjoy time together as a community.
The venue hosted University of Tennessee gamedays on Saturdays in the fall as well as playoff games for baseball in the spring. This was on top of festivals and movie nights they hosted for years.
Jacob Nelson is the owner of the Loco Drive-in. He said that recently, noise complaints have become a problem for the business that ultimately led to his decision to shut down.
“It was a major contributing factor into our decision. So, you know all things equal, if we could have just ran it as we used to we could have kept on just fine but that’s not how it went down so we made a decision,” Nelson said.
On Facebook, the drive-in initially called out the county for the noise ordinance.
Loudon County Commissioner Chase Randolph said that issue actually goes back to a city ordinance.
“It was never the movies or UT-ball games. It was always they were throwing some parties down there, you know, several thousand people. And that’s when we would get the calls with the excessive noise, with the music,” Randolph said.
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