Shankweiler's Drive

NORTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — An adorable gatecrasher happened to sneak on into a feature presentation at the nation’s oldest drive-in theater last week.

Staff were surprised to find the ticketless tabico at Shankweiler's Drive-In Theatre, a staple of Orefield and one of the last few hundred drive-ins found throughout the country, hiding in the bushes during an Aug. 14 showing of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem."

While giving their ticket-taker a break that evening, drive-in owners Matthew McClanahan and Lauren McChesney heard some tiny meows coming from outside the door of the booth.

“I put my head out and I saw this little kitten run into the tree line, and then about a minute later, she poked her head out, meowing at us…” McClanahan said.

“So loud… You could hear her over the movie,” McChesney said.

Despite being a bold public speaker, the little furball was “very shy,” McClanahan said, as she continued poking her head out of the foliage to meow over and over.

“It became a coordinated effort when our ticket taker came back,” McClanahan said. “He started jingling keys and entertaining her. I got a funnel cake box – hence her name. That's how we captured her, in a funnel cake box. And then we brought her back to the projection booth for the rest of the movie.”

“And by the end of that she was laying in Matt's lap sleeping,” McChesney said.

When the pair, who happen to be romantic partners as well as co-workers, brought their little Funnel Cake home, it was time to get down to business: flea baths, cleaning, cat-proofing and gently introducing her to a new home.

“She's very energetic, she loves to climb, so we have to kind of be mindful of things we have around here because she will get into everything. But she has really acclimated quickly to home life and has warmed up to us,” McClanahan said. “I mean, she waits for us when we come home and…”

“…she waits for me in the morning to feed her,” McChesney said. “We’re already on to that. She acts like I’m starving her and I’m like, ‘You’re eating Fancy Feast!’”

For the time being, Funnel Cake has been relegated to the kitchen while the couple gets her accustomed to everything in the house, though she has already discovered an aptitude for scaling the baby gate which separates the rooms.

Some of Funnel Cake’s favorite activities at the moment include playing with her toys, smacking things across the room, observing – and sometimes crashing – Zoom meetings, and checking out the sink, even if she despises bath time.

The couple’s adopted daughter makes for a perfect addition to the family, as they originally met when McClanahan was working at Lehighton’s Mahoning Drive-In Theater.

McChesney was a frequent customer, but the pair really came together over an Instagram post.

“I was just mad PPL wasn't replacing a broken pole, and he was he had just been stood up on a date, so we were just bored talking on Instagram,” McChesney said.

It wasn’t long before McClanahan, who was living in Harleysville, and McChesney, who was in Allentown, were meeting up in Quakertown for movie dates. Not long after, McClanahan moved in with his beau – with the COVID-19 pandemic playing a small role in that endeavor – and just last fall, the couple made the jump and bought Shankweiler’s Drive-In Theatre.

“We happened to see an article about how they were really pushing to sell it soon. We'd always drove past it – I grew up going to it – and we always drove past it doing other jobs, so for us it just kind of made sense,” McClanahan said.

Funnel Cake is already a star of the silver screen, appearing on slide projections at the theater. Next year, McClanahan and McChesney are considering a special celebration, “a Funnel Cake Gotcha Day,” as they put it.

While McClanahan grew up with plenty of rescue cats, Funnel Cake is McChesney's first feline, but she's warmed up quite quickly.

Speaking of which, little Funnel Cake has quickly gotten over her timidity, becoming quite animated and excitable when LehighValleyNews.com visited the couple's home on Thursday. In fact, she just couldn't let go of social media special Grace Oddo, a feeling which appeared quite mutual.

For now, the little cinephile family is happy to enjoy each other’s company at home. In time, Funnel Cake might make some appearances at the drive-in, increasing her already stellar profile.

“She's a superstar. She is the official spokesperson of the drive-in, the brand ambassador,” McClanahan said.