The marquee at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Mahoning Township has been cleaned after vandals defaced it sometime Saturday morning.

Corrosive black paint was tossed onto the historic sign alongside Route 443 near Lehighton. Cliff Albert at Fathom Painting repainted the marquee in a fresh coat of white.

Owners said in a Facebook post from the drive-in that they are working with local law enforcement to track down the vandals.

Contacted Tuesday morning, Mahoning Township Police Chief Audie Mertz said the case is being handled by officer Tyler Meek, and that it is still an open investigation.

Virgil Cardamone, owner/operator, described how the situation has strengthened the relationship between the drive-in and the community.

“Our plan is to fully move forward from this,” Cardamone said. “The good that came out of this terrible situation is that it proved the power of our community, and it proved the power of the drive-in culture.”

Cardamone added, “We’ve been blessed to become mouthpieces for the preservation of 35 millimeter, and also the revival of the drive-in culture, and if there’s any good that came from this, it’s that the community rallied behind us in such a way we feel this proves how essential the drive-in is for the community, as well as the community at large.

“To have a cinema and be able to celebrate with your neighbors, to have a safe gathering space, it means the world to so many people. For somebody to come in and really deface the operation, the symbol of all of those things for so many people, I think naturally the people got very angry, the people got very upset, the people felt personally attacked by it.”

Cardamone explained how the drive-in plans to grow from the experience.

“My only goal with this is to try to push forward and carry on like we have been the last 10 years putting on very unique fan experiences with the support of the community and the township, and can only hope that this strengthens our legend,” he said. “We have had celebrities, filmmakers, studios reaching out to us and wanting to either lend their hand to be able to come and help out, people who want to donate money to us.”

Cardamone noted the drive-in has been pointing people to its Patreon page, https://www.patreon.com/mahoningdrivein where they can donate or support them further.

“We’ve seen a big boost; we were very close to a sellout on Sunday,” he said. “It’s a total negative and blow to our soul that we’re just trying to turn into the best positive that we can.”

Cardamone added, “With this power of community behind us, this is a minor speed bump. We’re going to stay positive and know this is gong to strengthen our legend.

“But we don’t want to dwell on it, point fingers,” he said. “We want to kind of step back and focus on what we do, and hope that the public has information and hope that something arises from it.”

Anyone with information is asked to reach out to MahoningDriveinTheater@gmail.com.