Friends Jack Corrigan, 8, and Abby Digate and Elizabeth Andre, both 10, settle down to watch Will Smith in Hancock at the Rustic Tri-View Drive-In. Abby’s mother, Debbie Digate, recalls that drive-ins were a big part of growing up in Lubbock, Texas. The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

NORTH SMITHFIELD — The Dufresne family ritual was on full display the other night at the Rustic Tri-View Drive-In.

Nancy Dufresne Borges, 42, hewing to tradition, assembled one of her children, several of her siblings, and a few close friends and squeezed as many as possible into her minivan. They stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken and then caught up with others in their impromptu party at the drive-in.

It was just 7 p.m. — two hours before the double feature was to start.

They pulled out lawn chairs and a folding table and set up camp next to the van on the worn, uneven pavement, facing Screen One. They dug into buckets of fried chicken.

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Around the table were Nancy’s daughter, Patty Borges, 14; Nancy’s brother Dann Dufresne, 37, of Somerset; sister Kathy Dufresne, 41, visiting from Arlington, Va., sister Paula Dufresne, 28, of Somerset, and assorted friends. Two Dufresne siblings were missing that night.

“This is an annual tradition,” said Nancy, who lives in Berkeley, Mass. “To come to the drive-in with my siblings.”

For years, her parents, Shirley and Robert, bundled the six Dufresne children into the family’s powder-blue Chevy Impala station wagon and drove them to Tiverton’s Ponta Del Gada drive-in on summer nights.

Of course, the Ponta Del Gada is long gone, closing in 1970, followed by drive-ins in Dartmouth and Westport that the Dufresnes, originally from Tiverton, used to frequent. Shirley and Robert had gone on dates at the drive-ins, long before they had children.

“We would go in our pajamas,” Nancy recalled. “And all six of us would lie on the roof of the car, on a blanket.”

“There are a lot of fond family memories,” Kathy said.

And some sad ones. “The first drive-in movie I remember was seeing Bambi,” Kathy said. “I remember crying.”

Movie fans await the showing of Independence Day outside Tazza, a café and bar at Westminster and Union Streets in downtown Providence. The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

So each summer, Nancy gathers as many family members as she can in her minivan, also powder blue, and brings them to Rhode Island’s only remaining drive-in.

Once bountiful, drive-ins have dwindled. At their height in the 1950s, there were about 4,000 outdoor movie theaters in the United States. As of last summer, that number had shrunk to just 383, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association. Aside from the Rustic, the closest drive-in for Rhode Islanders is in Mendon, Mass.

The Rustic has three screens, each showing a double feature that starts at 9 p.m., and can accommodate more than 500 cars. There are bargain nights on Mondays and Tuesdays, $15 per carload, as opposed to the usual $20.

The drive-in was bought in April by the Boston Culinary Group, which already had a strong presence in Rhode Island. It owns the Opera House in Newport, Island Cinemas 10 in Middletown, South County Commons Entertainment Cinema in South Kingstown, Union Station restaurant in Providence and provides the concessions at the Ryan Center at the University of Rhode Island, said Mark Benvenuto, director of the theater division.

Last Tuesday night, about 200 cars were scattered among the three screens on the lot, which is cracked and cratered like a moonscape. The potholes are ugly, but they encourage drivers to go slow, said employee Derek Carr, 17. Poles holding speakers were removed long ago. Now movie sound is piped in through car radios.

“We jump about six to seven cars a night,” Carr said. “Mostly older cars, with batteries that can’t take the drain.”

A FEW CARS down from the Dufresnes’ encampment, also facing Screen One, Jack Corrigan, 8, and Elizabeth Andre, 10, prepared for their first drive-in double feature: Will Smith in Hancock and Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Friend Abby Digate, 10, who spends summers in Westport, went last year to see the animated movie Cars at the Mendon drive-in with her mother, Debbie Digate, and told her friends all about it.

“She just said it was fun to see a movie outside,” said Jack, who wrapped himself in a blanket as the three kids made makeshift beds in the back of the Digates’ SUV.

“And if you get tired, you can just lay down,” Abby said.

Debbie Digate grew up going to drive-ins in Lubbock, Texas, “all the time,” she said.

“It’s just so much fun,” Debbie said. “I just wanted them to experience it.”

A few weeks back, a kitchen fire forced the concession stand at the drive-in to close. It will reopen soon, Benvenuto said.

But the lack of burgers and popcorn didn’t bother the Riendeau family of Burrillville. They arrived early, snagged a front-row spot and pulled out sandwiches from home. The family played Yahtzee and a couple of hands of Hearts.

“I come a lot,” said Lauren Riendeau, 17. “It’s cheap, it’s outside, we play games and people get together.”

Tammy Lourenco, of Mattapoisett, Mass., and Lori Souza, of Fairhaven, Mass., both 38 and friends since fourth grade, brought their children to see Kung-Fu Panda on Screen Two. It was the first time Lourenco’s daughter Alexis Dias, 11, had been to a drive-in.

The two women remember going to the Fairhaven Drive-In together in elementary school.

“It was very exciting just to be able to go watch a movie outdoors, and I remember there was a swing set in front of the screen,” Lori said, as her children, Melissa, 7, and Zachary, 5, played in the parking lot. “My mother had a big old station wagon and we kids would put blankets on the hood to watch the movie.”

“Oh, I remember those swings,” Tammy said. “I liked watching all the teenagers walk around. I loved going to the concession stand. I always had a cheeseburger and ice cream.”

Tazza presents free movies at dusk every Thursday through Sept. 25.

The Incredible Hulk was scheduled to start at 10:45, after Kung-Fu Panda, and Zachary vowed to make it through both movies.

Tammy and Lori seemed less hopeful.

“I remember falling asleep in the back seat,” Lourenco said. “I never made it through the second movie.”Rustic Tri-View Drive In

Location: Route 146, North Smithfield. (401) 769-7601

Costs: $15 per carload Mondays and Tuesdays; $20 per carload otherwise.

What to bring: Bug spray, blankets and a battery-operated radio so you won’t drain your car battery.

Advice for beginners: Big vans and SUVs must park in the back row, so get there early to secure a spot.

What’s the Web site: www.drive-ins.com/theater/ritrust

jjordan@projo.com