Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop facts for kids
The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop is a huge place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's a giant drive-in theater with 14 screens! It's also the biggest daily flea market (like a giant outdoor market) in the whole world. People say it's one of Florida's biggest tourist spots, especially in the South Florida area. For many years, the Hanneford Family Circus used to perform there every day, entertaining millions of visitors!
History of the Swap Shop
The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop started a long time ago, on November 22, 1963. It was first called the Thunderbird Drive-in Theater. Betty and Preston Henn were the ones who opened it. Back then, it only had one movie screen, which is still used today as Screen 9!
A few years later, in 1966, Preston Henn got an idea after a trip out West. He decided to add a flea market to the drive-in. This was a great way for people in the area to sell things they didn't need anymore. It also helped many small businesses get started in southeastern Florida. Adding the flea market made the place much more popular. It grew a lot, adding more screens until it had 11 by 1980.
In 1979, an outdoor food court was added where you could grab a bite to eat. About ten years later, they made the food court even better by putting a roof over it and adding air conditioning. They also built a stage. Famous singers from the 1960s and 1970s, like K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, and Three Dog Night, used to perform there. The circus also shared the stage!
The Swap Shop kept growing in the 1990s, adding Screens 12 and 13. By 2005, it had its fourteenth screen! However, on October 24, 2005, a big storm called Hurricane Wilma damaged some of the screens. Today, 13 of the 14 screens are still in use.
Besides the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop, the Henn family also owned and ran other similar places. These included the Margate Swap Shop (which closed in 2007), the Lake Worth Swap Shop and Drive-in, and the Tampa Fun-Lan Swap Shop and Drive-in.
