Southington Candidate Preview

PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO

Although Election Day is more than five months away, the campaigns are already up and running. Here is what we know so far about the candidates Southington voters will find listed on the ballot this November.

CT Governor

State Senator Ryan Fazio, who represents the 36^th District (Greenwich, North Stamford), will be the Republican candidate for Governor.

On the Democratic side, two-term incumbent Governor Ned Lamont of Greenwich was endorsed by his party at its recent convention. However, he will face a primary challenge from State Representative Josh Elliot, who currently represents the 88^th district (Hamden). The Democratic primary vote will be held on August 11.

Lieutenant Governor

Incumbent Democrat Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown is facing a challenge from Republican Matthew Corey of Manchester.

Attorney General

Incumbent Democrat William Tong of Stamford is facing a challenge from Republican John Bolton of Westport.

Secretary of State

Incumbent Democrat Stephanie Thomas of Norwalk is facing a challenge from Republican Peter Lumaj of Fairfield.

US Congress, 1st District

Map of the 1st Congressional District

Congressman John Larson of East Hartford, a fourteen-term incumbent, will face off in the August primary against a pair of challengers: former Hartford mayor Luke Bronin, and Jillian Gilchrest, who represents the 18^th House District (West Hartford). Bronin recently won the endorsement of his party.

CT State Senate, 16th District

16th State Senate District

The Republican incumbent, Senator Rob Sampson of Wolcott, will be running for a fifth term to represent the 16th district.

Sampson is being challenged by Democrat Jack Perry, a former member of Southington’s Town Council.

CT State House

Map of CT House Districts, centered on Southington

81^st District (Southington)

Accordingt to the Southington Democratic Town Committee, the two-term Democratic incumbent, Christopher Poulos, is being challenged by Republican Tim Wilk.

30th District (Berlin, Southington)

The three-term Republican incumbent, Donna Veach of Berlin, is being challenged by Linda Pierce of Berlin.

22nd District (Plainville, Farmington, Southington)

The one-term Democratic incumbent, Rebecca Martinez of Plainville, is being challenged by Republican Richard Mette of Plainville.

80th District (Wolcott, Southington)

The three-term Republican incumbent, Gale Mastrofrancesco of Wolcott, is being challenged by Cheryl Hilton of Southington.

The Southington Drive-In, Now a Nonprofit, Launches New Season

The Drive-In Board: Dawn Miceli, Dave Zoni, Mike Fasulo DIANN THOMSON PHOTOS

There are only two places in Connecticut where you can watch a Hollywood release on a summer evening from a vehicle full of family and friends. One is the Mansfield Drive-In in Mansfield. The other is Southington’s own drive-in movie theater on 995 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, which will be kicking off its 2026 season this Saturday.

The Southington Drive-In, which opened 71 years ago, was the brainstorm of a Greek-immigrant named Peter Perakos. For decades the theater, which originally had two screens, was in regular operation. Yet with the rise of home video options business declined, and in 2002 the Perakos family made the decision to shut it down.

Two years later, the town acquired the property, and in 2010 Dawn Miceli and Mike Riccio led an effort to resurrect it, forming the Southington Drive-In Committee. The idea was to have the town run the venue with the help of local civic groups that would staff events and take a cut of any subsequent profits. Earlier this year the Committee, which now consists of Miceli, Dave Zoni, and Mike Fasulo, was spun off from the town and incorporated as a non-profit.

The Outsider recently spoke with Miceli to learn what it takes to keep an old-fashioned institution like the Drive-In going in an age of streaming video and smartphones. The transcript of our interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

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How does each year's line-up get decided?

We pick and choose. We make notes throughout the winter season on what new family movies have come out. Also, once we get into the new year, we look to see what classic movies are having anniversaries. That’s why we’re having movies like Top Gun and Ferris Bueller this year, because both are celebrating anniversaries.

We can’t afford first-run movies because the fees are astronomical. However, a movie that has come out even a month or two earlier we can show during the summer season. We have five or six this year that were released over the winter or just this spring. We’re excited about that. We’re trying to add more each year.

A lot of it depends on the studios in Los Angeles. Last year we were not able to open with Jaws, which had been a tradition with us. Our fans were so upset. ‘Why did you do that?’ It was because Jaws was in its 50^th anniversary year, and the studio or the producer put a moratorium on showing Jaws during certain months. We deal with that with every movie we show. They all have windows of availability. So we have to plan there.

Most of the line-up consists of family-friendly films. Is there a reason for that?

We get questions like, ‘why don’t you show an R-rated film,’ ‘why don’t you show a horror movie?’ We’ve been doing this now for 17 years. Especially back in the beginning, we tried to show adult-oriented movies. The fact of the matter was that unless it was a family movie, we were not selling out. And basically the people who go to the movies are young families. The problem when we have a low turnout is that we still have to pay the fee to rent the movie, which is upwards of several thousand dollars. We need a big turnout just to break even. And since we are doing this to raise money for the host organizations, we want each week to be a sell-out.

CAROL CASTRO PHOTO

Ordinary indoor movie theaters make a lot of their movie from selling popcorn and soda at the concession stands. Is that a big income stream for you?

We have a couple of things. We have a food truck, and they pay us a fee to be there. We have an ice-cream truck, and they pay us a fee to be there. Then for the concession stand, we’re sellling popcorn. It’s a buck a bag, so it’s a revenue stream, but it’s not a million dollars. We’re trying to make it affordable for the family.

We are cash-only at the concession stand and at the ticket gate because we don’t want to have extraneous fees from credit cards. People sometimes get upset about that, but if we change, we’re not going to be a buck a bag for popcorn and twenty bucks to get in.

DIANN THOMSON PHOTOS

How old is the drive-in?

You can look up its history online for all the details, but it was built in the 50’s. The theater had two screens originally. The town took down one when it bought the property. They were smart enough to leave one screen intact, which we have since maintained. They have to be painted with a special paint. The foundation can rust, so that needs to be maintained.

What is the projection equipment like?

It’s all digital, although we use several projectors to get the resolution and the size that we need on the screen. We have a projectionist who handles that for us.

Who else is working there besides you, Dave Zoni, and Mike Fasulo?

Well the three of us are volunteers, we don’t get paid. Our projectionist is Vinny Morelli and he does get paid. We have a manager and he gets paid. That’s Kyle Ritondo. He works with the volunteers in the host groups each week. He stays until the end of the movie to jump cars if anyone’s battery has died, and he picks up trash from the trash barrels.

The other person we hire is Eric Korp. Eric like Kyle is a physical education teacher in the Southington School System. We have him come for the real children’s movies. He provides free family activities in the multipurpose field for the kids. Back in the day when you would go with your parents to the drive-in, you would swing on the swings that used to be underneath the screen. That small playground is no longer there. Eric plays capture the flag and brings his bubble machine and does all kinds of fun things and has the kids run around in the field before the show.

Eric Korp and the bubble machine

Those are the paid staff. The three of us, Dave, Mike, and I, are there every Saturday night from May 30^th through September of this year. We man the concession stand at the start of the movie and for the first half hour, but we generally don’t stay until the end.

The Drive-In became independent of the town this year. Can you tell us about that?

We are now our own nonprofit LLC with contracts in place with the town that say that all monies are shared with our host organizations. The town came up with a list of mandates for us and we agreed to those. That process is now complete.

We are a separate entity from the town so that we don’t have to utilize any funding from them. We’ve always wanted to be as indepenedent as possible and not cost town residents any tax dollars, if possible. That being said, even when we were with the town, town services were negligible. And we helped maintain that property which the town rents out during the week for parties, drive-in nights, car nights. We maintain the pavilion, power-washing it each year, and we help pay for the electricity down there.

The Drive-In benefits the people who come out to watch the movies, but also the nonprofits that volunteer to staff them. Can you speak more about that?

We’re proud that after seventeen seasons we have now given over a half a million dollars, and are heading towards three quarters of a million dollars, to Southington civic groups and nonprofit organizations. Many have been with us from the start: Southington Rotary, Soutington UNICO, the Mill Foundation, which works with children with cancer, the Lion’s Club, the United Way, Bread for Life. They keep the proceeds in town in order to benefit our residents.

Your group has to have twenty volunteers who get there before the gates open. Some of them are in the field helping to park cars and get them up to the line; we have parking lines so people can see and get out in an orderly manner, and we need to have ingress/egress for emergencies.

Then you also have people at both gates. We have the main gates, the two booths, and we also have a walk-in table on the Rec park side. So the groups need twenty volunteers. They’re there for a couple of hours, and then they come back Sunday morning and help pick up trash that people left in the field.

For that they get a good return. The amount is never guaranteed because it depends on how the season goes. We live in CT, so you can get rain some nights and cancellations. But whatever we make at the end, we divvy up, and everyone gets the same cut. Back in the day they were making $1,500 dollars, and we’re now up to giving out $3,000 for that one night of volunteer work. Frankly we have a wait list of Southington organizations that want to get in. Once organizations get in, they don’t drop out, because they see this is the easiest fundraiser they’ve ever done.

Parking lot volunteers

Is the operation sustainable? Can you continue doing this for a long time?

Definitely. A couple of thoughts on that. There’s a reason that for-profit drive-ins went under. It became a thing of the past and people have their huge projection screens at home. But because we’re only open once a week, it’s something special, versus when it was a for-profit business that was open every night and trying to fill the lot. It was a tough business. There’s only two left in Connecticut, and we’re one of them!

People will ask, why can’t you open Friday and Sunday too? We look at the analytics and we know that we have something special. If we were to inundate the market with three movies a week or all week long, I don’t think that would be sustainable. But once a week is sustainable.

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The Southington Drive-In season kicks off this Saturday, May 30, with the showing of Jaws. Gates open at 6 pm with free family activities on the multipurpose field at 7. All vehicle-loads $20, cash only. Concessions on site or bring your own.

Selfie by Diann Thomson with fellow parking volunteer

At Memorial Tournament, Organizers Remember Founder of Southington Lacrosse

Barbara Vilar, Ryan Vilar, Aindrea McDowell, Shawn McDowell PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO

For the thousands of young lacrosse players who traveled to Southington from across southern New England to participate in the KVMJ lacrosse tournament last Saturday, the focus was on getting a few urgent questions answered - where is the field my team is playing on? when do we start? where can I get water? – so they could compete and have fun.

NMR PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOS

But for the tournament organizers who were making sure all their questions got answered, the event meant something more. The abbreviation KVMJ stands for ‘Ken Vilar Memorial Jamboree.’ Ken was the founder of Southington lacrosse, which was first recognized as a sport at the high school in 1989. The jamboree was renamed in his honor after his death in 2012. On Saturday, Aindrea and Shawn McDowell, Ken’s daughter and son-in-law, were busy running the event, just as they done for past several years, with the help of friends, family members, and the Southington Lacrosse Association.

On the grassy fields at the high school and DePaolo, 160 boys and girls teams were either playing lacrosse or getting ready to compete. While they watched the action and took questions from out-of-towners, Aindrea and Barbara Vilar, Ken’s wife, took some time to reflect on the history of lacrosse in Southington and the key role Ken played in popularizing it.

Barbara: “This was his dream, to expose the sport. He played on Long Island, where lacrosse is a big thing. Around here back then everything was baseball and football. He started with little sticks at the YMCA [a program for younger kids]; it was about building up those skills. Then he worked really hard to get a program at the high school.”

Aindrea: “He started fundraising for the equipment and the travel. He set up a booster club. Any kind of money we raised, all of it went to Southington lacrosse.”

Barbara: “We did so much fundraising! It’s an expensive sport, with the equipment – sticks, helmet, gloves, pads – and the fees. We sold everything – cheesecakes, you name it.”

Aindrea: “And there was Panthorn Park, too. He fought for Panthorn to be Southington’s lacrosse home.”

Barbara: “Do you remember Dr. Saloom, the Superintendent back then [in the 1980’s]? He was a tough one. We really had to fight to get a team recognized. Now the school system is more flexible, more open to new sports.”

Aindrea: “It’s been a long ride. We’ll keep doing this as long as we can. It’s important to us to preserve his legacy and keep his name out there, to let people know.”

At one point in the conversation the name Jeff Merrill came up. Merrill played lacrosse at the high school and graduated in the same class, 1989, as this reporter. Aindrea and Barbara’s faces lit up at the mention of his name. Merrill was the leader of the group of young lacrosse enthusiasts who turned to Ken for help advocating for the creation of a high school team. When I wrote to him to ask for his perspective, he was happy to share:

“When I approached Ken Vilar about putting a team together for SHS," Merrill replied, "he was very supportive. With his dedication and leadership he was willing to guide me on the next steps to make the team happen! I realized that Ken was the voice for us boys to have a Lacrosse team at SHS.”

“I remember being at the School Board meeting with Ken and the team members. Ken spoke for all of us and for future students who would someday be able to play Lacrosse in Southington at every grade level. Today I think about Ken Vilar and I know that the saying is true: you can do it, if put your mind to it. Ken did it for all of us!”

Another important figure in the history of Southington lacrosse is the current high school coach, Chris Kennedy. When Kennedy came over to the organizers’ booth, he introduced himself and explained how his own story intersects with that of the Vilars:

“This is my fourth year as head of the high school team,” he said. “I coached at St. Paul for eight years prior to that. I was on the first group of youth teams in Southington.”

“I played for Coach Vilar. He recruited me off the basketball courts from Central Elementary School. There was a group of us playing. He walked up to the whole group and asked if anyone had seen the game before. By a process of elimination I stayed in the conversation longer than the rest. I was interested, but at the time I knew my family didn’t have the money for sign-up or equipment or even rides for that matter. Coach didn’t take no for an answer; he said ‘I didn’t ask you for money; just commitment.”

“That’s how I got started in lacrosse. I played in the youth program and in high school. I kept playing baseball too.”

“Fast forward a few decades. My son decided he wanted to play lacrosse. The year I got involved again in SLA [Southington Lacrosse Association] was the year Coach came back and started to coach his grandson. So we kind of reunited. Unfortunately, that was also the year we lost him.”

“That lit a spark in me to coach lacrosse. I had been coaching high school football for 15 years at that point. I went hard into lacrosse then, coaching in SLA, coaching my own son. I had bigger aspirations. At St. Paul I think we took things to the next level. I thought I would stay there forever until the position at Southington became available. That was the only position I would leave St. Paul for. It became an obvious decision from there.”

“There is not a day that I don’t walk down this field and think of Coach and what he did for me. I had a great football mentor: I coached for Jude Kelly for 25 years. Usually, with me, people think of Jude, which makes sense, since he’s a father figure to me. But I first learned the impact that someone could have on young people from Ken Vilar. He was that person when I was a young kid.”

“I take that very seriously. I don’t cut kids. I think there’s a place for everybody. Everyone can get value from being a part of the game, as long as you’re willing to do the work. This is my 13^th year as a HS head coach and I’ve never cut a kid.”

Kennedy also shared some insights into the nature of lacrosse when asked to explain what it’s like: “A lot of people make the football-lacrosse connection, and that’s understandable because of the physicality of the game. But it’s actually basketball. Few people know this, but James Naismith, before he invented basketball, played four years of college lacrosse and coached college lacrosse. When he invented the game, the intent was an indoors, less-physical version of lacrosse.”

“From a deeper standpoint, the x’s and o’s, if you understand the rotations in basketball, if you understand the two-man and three-man game that’s commonly used in basketball – this is where it comes from.”

Kennedy then set off to spend some time with family, and do a little scouting: “I was here first thing this morning. My daughter is in eighth grade playing. I was watching the girls side this morning. My wife Melissa and I are coming back to watch the fourth and fifth and sixth grade and all the future Blue Knights, making sure they’re doing things the way Coach would have done them. There’s a very bright future from Southington Lacrosse based on what I’ve seen today.”