SACO -- The "For Lease" sign might cause some to worry, but the Saco Drive-In is likely to open for its 71st season next year.

"Somebody is definitely going to open it, there's no doubt in my mind," said Pat Roberge, who works for the family construction business that owns the drive-in theater on Route 1.

Roberge said her brother-in-law, Robert Roberge, operated the theater this year but decided to look for someone else to run it in 2010. It's up for lease as an operating theater, she said.

Roberge Construction has owned the drive-in since the 1980s, she said, although she's not sure why or how the family came to own it.

She said Richard Roberge decided to look for another operator because he's nearing retirement age.

There are a couple of interested parties, Roberge said, which is why she's pretty certain it will open after the winter, once the weather starts to warm. But there's no deal right now.

The drive-in, which can hold about 500 cars, first opened in 1939 and is believed to be the oldest in Maine and, possibly, the second-oldest still operating in the country. There are only a handful of drive-ins still operating in the state.

Roy Fairfield, a Saco historian, said most everyone who has grown up in the Saco-Old Orchard Beach area probably has memories of going to the drive-in.

"It was an experience to go outside for a film," he said.

The Saco Drive-In was no different from others around the country, he said, where the films took a back seat, so to speak, in terms of the patrons' interests.

"There was a certain amount of love going on all around," said Fairfield, who admitted that he remembers the experience of going to the drive-in but can't recall what movies he saw.

Well into the 1950s and '60s, going to the drive-in meant a trip "into the country," said Fairfield, whose books include a Saco history titled "Sand, Spindles and Steeples."

Fairfield noted that the drive-in is only about three miles from downtown Saco, but before Route 1 was lined with fast-food outlets and car dealerships, it was considered a relatively remote location.

On Friday and Saturday nights in the summer, he said, it wasn't unusual to see a stream of cars going north on Route 1 shortly before sundown, headed toward the drive-in.

"It's a kind of institution in and of itself," he said.