Between them, the Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre in Honor and the Lucky Jack’s Family Entertainment Center in Traverse City have more than 134 years of operation under their belts. After changing hands last month, though, these two longtime northern Michigan entertainment staples are headed in opposite directions. One will remain in its current form, with a new owner adamant about preserving tradition. The other has closed its doors for good, with the property set to become the latest expansion for a growing car dealership empire.

Due to the relative rarity of drive-in movie theaters, the Cherry Bowl made headlines statewide in February when it hit the market for an asking price of $625,000. According to MLive, the Cherry Bowl is one of just eight drive-ins still operating in Michigan, and the only one in the northern part of the state. Most estimates point to there being around 300 surviving drive-ins throughout the U.S.

For Mindi Jarman, a Lansing-based preschool and kindergarten teacher who left the profession a year ago after 15 years, the news of the Cherry Bowl’s listing came at a serendipitous time.

“I left my job because I felt like it was time for a change, and I have mostly been hanging out with my dogs not doing anything since,” Jarman laughs. “I was feeling restless and looking for something to do, and when I saw that the Cherry Bowl was for sale, I immediately turned to my husband and said, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’”

Jarman and her husband plan to move to northern Michigan permanently to run the theater. While they’ve been a Lansing household until now, the two keep their boat in Frankfort and have spent summers there for years. The Cherry Bowl was even where Jarman attended her first drive-in movie. Beyond a love for the theater itself, she tells The Ticker it was her “strong desire to preserve things from the past” that motivated her to buy the business.

“I have a degree in history, and I have a 1966 travel trailer whose name is Vivian, who is completely original and we go camping in her all the time,” Jarman says. “I just have always been really drawn to older things.”

The Cherry Bowl fits the bill: First opened on July 4, 1953, the theater has only had two owners. Spouses Jean and L.O. Griffin started the business, and Jean continued to run it for decades after her husband died in 1959. Then, in the 1990s, another wife-and-husband team, Laura and Harry Clark, took over. When Harry passed away in 2012, Laura, like Jean before her, forged on with the theater.

Jarman plans to continue the traditions established by the two owners before her. That means showing new-release double-feature films all summer long – and keeping the movies family-friendly, as the Cherry Bowl has typically only screened films rated PG-13 and under. Most of all, she wants the experience at the Cherry Bowl to remain the same as it has been for generations.

“Since I've taken ownership of the theater, every single person I talk to has a story about the Cherry Bowl,” she says. “People tell me about taking their grandkids there after having gone to drive-in movies there with their parents. I think, especially in our current world, it's so important to be able to hold on to those things, because they make us feel really connected.”

Another longtime local tradition – bowling at Lucky Jack’s in Traverse City – has come to an end after 63 years. Owner David Mohrhardt announced on Facebook last month that, “After many failed attempts to sell the center for the last four years that would enable bowling to continue at this location, an unexpected solid offer came from Serra Auto and the deal was closed on September 18.” Lucky Jack’s officially closed on September 28.

The Mohrhardt family has operated a bowling alley in Traverse City since October 1961, when Jack and Evelyn Mohrhardt opened a 24-lane center on US-31 called Timber Lanes. Jack and Evelyn’s sons, Mike and David, both came aboard full-time over the course of the following decade.

In 1996, the family sold the property to Meijer and Jack retired. Within a few months, though, Mike and David had purchased another bowling center in town and reopened it under the Timber Lanes name. That location, on Garfield Avenue, is where the Lucky Jack’s center stands today – though the brothers didn’t change the name until the late 2000s. The rebrand coincided with a buildout to make the business a full “family entertainment center,” with food service, arcade games, laser tag, bumper cars, and more. Mike Mohrhardt sold his stake in the business in 2013, and David has been the sole owner ever since.

The news of the Lucky Jack’s closure has drawn backlash on social media, particularly from the local bowling community. Multiple commenters on Mohrhardt’s post accused the owner of “greed,” alleging that he turned down numerous purchase offers over the years that would have preserved the business as a bowling alley. When asked about those rumors and why he decided to sell now, Mohrhardt declined comment and asked The Ticker not to mention him or Lucky Jack’s in this article.

Representatives from Serra, including the marketing director for Serra Traverse City and Serra Automotive Chairman Joseph Serra, did not respond to inquiries about their plans for the Lucky Jack’s property. Serra already has multiple auto dealerships on Garfield Avenue, including right next door to the bowling center.

A new dealership at the Lucky Jack’s site wouldn’t be Serra’s first high-profile growth move in Traverse City this year. In January, Serra bought the Bill Marsh Auto Group. That family business, which had three northern Michigan dealerships, had been around since 1982.