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Repairing Iconic Marquee at Carbon County Drive-In

MAHONING TOWNSHIP, Pa. — If you have ever driven on Route 443 near Lehighton, you have seen it — the iconic marquee just outside of the Mahoning Dri...

MAHONING TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- If you have ever driven on Route 443 near Lehighton, you have seen it -- the iconic marquee just outside of the Mahoning Drive-In Theater.

Back in January, the sign was damaged by severe weather.

"It's a big red arrow that sits over the main base. Now that big red arrow took a topple from the wind," said Virgil Cardamone, Mahoning Drive-In partner.

The drive-in opened for the season last weekend.

Virgil Cardamone helps run the business in Mahoning Township. He says money for the nearly $20,000 repair came from drive-in savings and donations.

"We did a GoFundMe which is actually still live and the community was beautiful with helping us out with funds this year. As far as the work, the people reaching out to us to help has been amazing," said Cardamone.

The sign has been there since the 1940s, so it did need some work, but after the damage, it needed a lot of work. Now that repairs are almost finished, it's expected to be ready to go by Friday.

"This was the year we were going to look into bringing it back to life so it was one of those blessings in disguise," said Cardamone.

For those worried about what the sign will look like, fear not. It will be the same old design, just made with new materials.

"It's absolutely the same exact way it was built in 1948. It's kind of our thing here to keep it totally nostalgic and preserving it and that is exactly what people will see when they come driving down the road," said Cardamone.

An unveiling ceremony of the new marquee is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Drive-in volunteers also plan to put a time capsule in the post of the sign to commemorate the event.

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