Harvest Moon Drive-In voted 2nd best in the U.S.

Bradley Zimmerman
·2 min read

GIBSON CITY, Ill. (WCIA) — The results are in for the USA Today’s Top 10 Best Drive-Ins, and a pair of Illinois theatres took home the top two spots on the list.

Over the last month, USA Today invited people to rank drive-ins across the country in a poll. The news agency said there are fewer than 400 that are operating today, a far cry from over 4,000 that were open in the 1950s.

Harvest Moon opened in 1954 and is celebrating its 70th year of operation this summer. The drive-in has been nominated three times over the last decade as one of USA Today’s Top 20 Drive-Ins.

Harvest Moon Drive-In now offering truck beds for cozy movie-viewing

Last month, theatre staff asked for community votes in the hopes of surpassing another Illinois drive-in — Skyview Drive-In in Belleville — as the top drive-in in the country. The exact number of votes that each drive-in received was not published, but they finished in those same spots — second for Harvest Moon and first for Skyview.

“We appreciate all the love and support during the past month of voting and cannot say THANK YOU enough!” staff said on Facebook. “It was an honor just to be nominated again, and outstanding to see us near the top of the list of great drive-in theaters.”

Staff added that they will be celebrating the honor later this season with something very special. Before then, their 70th anniversary celebration will be ramping up with the unofficial start of summer being this weekend. They will be hosting a Retro Luau Party and showing The Garfield Movie and IF.

A schedule for the month of June is also available on Facebook. The drive-in will be showing classics like Jurassic Park, Grease and Twister along with new films Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4 and A Quiet Place: Day One. Tickets are also available for Deadpool and Wolverine, coming in July.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.