Harvest Moon Twin Drive-In Theatre in Gibson City is preparing to open for the 2021 season, giving us something to look forward to as we head toward spring
Doesn’t it feel like the drive-in just closed? Well, it kind of did! Harvest Moon stayed open into the very beginning of the holiday season and families continued to come out in large numbers despite the cold. And here it is announcing its return for 2021, after what will be just about a four-month break between seasons.
On February 12, 2021, Harvest Moon posted this update on its Facebook page:
“We are currently planning on opening Friday March 19th if all goes well, but that date is subject to change still depending on weather.”
Well! We’re going to be hoping for great weather that week, which comes at the tail end of many schools’ spring break in Champaign-Urbana and beyond.
[Edited to add: According to its Facebook page, Harvest Moon is currently planning to open one week later, on March 26, 2021, hoping for less mud. Opening weekend movies are posted here.]
Harvest Moon also shared a post that included many movies to look forward to for 2021, including “Cruella”, “Hotel Transylvania 4”, Marvel’s “Black Widow”, and “Minions: The Rise of Gru.” There’s no guarantee these movies will all be released in 2021 as scheduled, of course, since we’ve seen release dates be postponed already in the last year.
Harvest Moon opened in early May during 2020, once COVID-restrictions allowed for drive-in movie theaters to operate. We don’t know yet what COVID-19 mitigations will be in place for the 2021 season. Some of last year’s adjustments included spreading out vehicles farther than normal, modifying food service and encouraging families to stay in their vehicle with their family unit for the duration of the movie.
In years prior to 2020, the drive-in has opened as early as the last weekend of March.