Plans for a drive-in movie theater to open at Canterbury Village amid the novel coronavirus pandemic are postponed.

Organizers for the venue planned to show movies in what they determined was a COVID-19-safe situation, with cars in 20-foot wide spots and tickets scanned through windows. The city and state shut their effort down, said Keith Aldridge, owner of the Orion Township marketplace.

In a post on the event’s Facebook page, organizers took aim at Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her stay-at-home order directly. They urged would-be attendees to contact Whitmer with their thoughts and revealed new opening dates once the stay-at-home order expires May 15.

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Aldridge expressed frustration with the news, saying common sense needs to prevail hand-in-hand with safety concerns.

He feels the safety concerns deeply; his 81-year-old father and former owner of the marketplace, Stan, won’t survive if he gets coronavirus, Aldridge said.

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But his crushed small business had found a safe way forward, he said.

“When you can send 20,000 people through Costco a day, but you can’t do a drive-in movie theater at 160 cars with safety precautions, there’s a disconnect there,” he said.

Tiffany Brown, press secretary for the governor, said in a text message Wednesday night that she was unaware of allegations that Whitmer, specifically, had shut the efforts down. She confirmed drive-in movie theaters are closed under the governor’s stay-at-home order.

The governor’s first priority is the health and safety of residents as the state starts to re-engage parts of the economy, she said.

“The administration is in constant contact with health and business experts to build a path forward for each industry, and consistent with our executive orders drive-in movie theaters are to remain closed to the public at this time,” she said.

The order prohibits all public and private gatherings and orders closure of non-essential businesses that can’t do delivery or curbside pick-up of goods.

The drive-in movie sold 3,000 tickets in an hour on Tuesday, Aldridge said.

They had multiple movies a day planned through mid-May, according to their Facebook page. "The Lion King" and "Jumanji: The Next Level" were first up.

Organizers put a lot of thought into the safety, Aldridge said. Though the offering still appeared on Facebook, Aldridge said organizers decided Tuesday night to nix plans to offer delivery from Canterbury's C Pub during the showings.

After laying off staff already, Aldridge hoped the new drive-in would offer some work to employees and bring in a little revenue.

A lobbyist in Lansing, along with Oakland County and Lake Orion government officials, informed him Wednesday that the drive-in was a no-go, he said.

Small businesses are in trouble and bankruptcies are down the line, he said. Business experts need to be at the table discussing how to open businesses safely and soon, he said.

“It’s a little scary when your bank accounts are at f------ zero and nobody seems to care about it,” he said.

Contact Darcie Moran: dmoran@freepress.com.