Delsea Drive-In chosen for MLB’s July 4 celebration in Vineland

New Jersey’s only remaining drive-in is heading for a national spotlight on July 4, when the Delsea Drive-In in Vineland will host Major League Baseball’s Independence Day celebration with a live Phillies broadcast, a screening of The Sandlot and fireworks.

The Vineland theater is one of only four drive-in sites selected nationwide for MLB’s Summer Drive-In program, a 2026 fan-engagement push tied to the country’s semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary. MLB said each site will screen The Sandlot before showing its local MLB team’s game, with food trucks and PLAY BALL activities also part of the night.

Ford is presenting the July 4 drive-in events as part of its multiyear exclusive partnership with MLB, announced in March 2026. The automaker said the deal makes Ford MLB’s Official Automotive Partner, while MLB said the collaboration will appear across the sport from Little League through the World Series. MLB’s broader America 250 effort also includes a new national marketing campaign, original content, broadcast programming and an All-Star Red Carpet Show at Independence Mall in Philadelphia.

For Cumberland County, the selection gives a longtime Vineland landmark a rare national showcase. The Delsea sits at 2203 South Delsea Drive and has long been promoted as an old-school moviegoing experience that still fits a modern family night out. VisitNJ says it is New Jersey’s only drive-in theater and notes that drive-ins have fallen from more than 4,000 nationwide to fewer than 400.

The Delsea’s history adds to the significance of the pick. Cinema Treasures says the theater opened April 29, 1949 as a 700-car drive-in, closed in July 1987, reopened July 23, 2004 and added a second screen in 2008. The venue is open from March through November, and its survival has made it one of the region’s most recognizable local institutions.

MLB identified the other July 4 sites as McHenry Outdoor Theater in McHenry, Illinois; Swan Drive-In in Blue Ridge, Georgia; and Paramount Drive-In in Paramount, California. For Vineland, the July 4 event ties baseball, film, food and fireworks to a place that has already outlasted most of the drive-in era, and now gets to represent Cumberland County on a national stage.