The Lonesome Pine Diner. (Ryan Peekeekoot/Facebook)

By Logan Lehmann

Movies and Cheeseburgers

Ahtahkakoop restaurant and drive-in theatre a huge hit in the community

Aug 29, 2022 | 3:17 PM

Despite only being open for a couple of months, the Lonesome Pine Diner and Drive-in Theatre has been a big success in the community of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation.

Sitting on top of a hill, the diner attracts people from surrounding communities and has served people from as far away as Australia. As for the theatre, it sits just a few steps down the hill.

“We have a 30-foot screen down at the bottom of the hill from where the restaurant is,” said owner Ryan Peekeekoot. “We set up the screen in this bowl area, like a natural amphitheatre. We hook up speakers and the projector of course along with a bunch of solar lights around the area too.”

Although the theatre was popular this past summer, it’s proven to be just as popular in the winter as local hockey star and Prince Albert Raider Dallyn Peekeekoot was the main motivation for the theatre in the first place.

“Last fall, (the community) hired this company to set up this drive-in type viewing for (Dallyn’s) games,” he said. “The only issue was that their projectors would always stop working so I started using my own and that’s what kind of got the ball rolling.”

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As for how the restaurant got started, Peekeekoot said that it was the people of his community who inspired him to start his business.

“A couple of years ago I lost my cousin and it woke me up and made me realize that I want to help out my community,” he said. “I wanted to give (the community) something to do and a place for the kids to hang out and watch movies and enjoy good food.”

Featuring home-cooked meals and local delicacies, the Diner sells everything from eggs and pancakes for breakfast to hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch and dinner.

The restaurant itself isn’t what you would expect either.

Construction of the kitchen and deck was completed earlier this summer and has plenty of seating. But the one thing that makes this eatery stand out from the others is the indoor seating area, which turned out to be an old coach bus.

“Originally the bus was going to be the kitchen but doing that would’ve cost too much,” he said. “Instead, we took the chairs out, put tables in, and turned this into the seating area.”

On the inside, the bus features multiple tables with a couch and a bar-like table with stools to go along with it. On top of all that, the bus also has air conditioning, a tabletop arcade, and colour-changing LED lights on the ceiling that stretches the length of the bus. The bus is also fitted with a screen on the outside of it that plays movies on weekdays.

As for what’s next for his business, Peekeekoot said he already has big plans for the restaurant.

“We’re building an upper deck actually too,” he said. “We’re going to build a deck on the roof of the bus and it’s going to provide quite the view around the area.”

Peekeekoot added that he’s planning to hold an official grand opening for his restaurant and drive-in sometime in September. However, no date has been picked for the event.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann