{"id":74534,"date":"2026-07-25T02:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=74534"},"modified":"2026-07-25T02:05:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:05:38","slug":"silver-moon-drive-in-lakelands-historic-theater-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/07\/25\/silver-moon-drive-in-lakelands-historic-theater-documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Moon Drive-In: Lakeland’s Historic Theater Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The iconic Silver Moon Drive-In<\/strong> on New Tampa Highway continues to be one of Lakeland\u2019s most cherished local landmarks. Having first opened its gates on April 14, 1948<\/strong>, the landmark is fast approaching its 80th anniversary in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local filmmakers Joel and Heather Robertson have launched a feature-length documentary project to preserve the community’s drive-in memories before the 80-year milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Highlights of the Silver Moon’s Legacy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • One of the Last Standing:<\/strong> Out of thousands of drive-in theaters that once operated across North America, only four remain in Florida \u2014 and the Silver Moon is the last remaining drive-in in all of Polk County.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Humble Beginnings:<\/strong> When it opened in 1948, admission was just 35 cents per person<\/strong>, featuring individual RCA window speakers and a single screen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Weathering the Storms:<\/strong> The original cinder-block screen was leveled by a tornado in May 1950. The theater rebuilt quickly and reopened just two months later.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Blending Nostalgia with Tech:<\/strong> While it still retains its retro neon sign, classic concession stand, and double-feature tradition, it added a second screen in 1985 and upgraded both screens to modern laser projection systems in 2022<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Community Traditions:<\/strong> Beyond evening double features, the site hosts its popular weekend swap shop\/flea market on Saturday and Sunday mornings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The documentary team plans to interview around 50 patrons, former employees, and longtime fans, with hopes of premiering the film right on the drive-in’s screens during the 2028 anniversary celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The iconic Silver Moon Drive-In on New Tampa Highway continues to be one of Lakeland\u2019s most cherished local landmarks. Having first opened its gates on April 14, 1948, the landmark… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDdcL2ltYWdlcy0yLTMud2VicD9maXQ9NTE1JTJDMzg4JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiU2lsdmVyIE1vb24gRHJpdmUtSW46IExha2VsYW5kJiM4MjE3O3MgSGlzdG9yaWMgVGhlYXRlciBEb2N1bWVudGFyeSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.vEOlwtkHmxp_kkRSKgz4QBWpxl4JNY7jDDEZjUQv6PoMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA3XC9pbWFnZXMtMi0zLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJTaWx2ZXIgTW9vbiBEcml2ZS1JbjogTGFrZWxhbmQncyBIaXN0b3JpYyBUaGVhdGVyIERvY3VtZW50YXJ5IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.7qVvl-zebmDMT42DUwMWLWroPeDMftB3A3t-KuMyPbsMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[15181,15180,15183,15179,15182,15185,2346],"class_list":["post-74534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-documentary-film","tag-drive-in-theater","tag-florida-landmarks","tag-lakeland-florida","tag-local-history","tag-nostalgia","tag-silver-moon-drive-in"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74536,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74534\/revisions\/74536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}