McHenry Outdoor Theatre

The McHenry Outdoor Theatre opens for the 2007 season tomorrow evening with Spiderman 3 and Ghost Rider.

Movie schedule may be found at View link

Here is a photo of the McHenry Outdoor Theater.

This Theatre is almost a weekly event for me. I go with my brothers and friends and girlfriend. here’s a typical night; we pull in at 7:00 to buy our tickets. i park my big Grand Marquis next to a silver pole just left of the concessions and turn off the engine. a pimply faced kid promptly asks me if i could park a few inches closer to the pole (big car). i start her up and repark a little closer. i dial my radio to 88.5 (the theatre’s dedicated station) and we sing along to all these great old doo wop and soul songs from the 50s and 60s. and guess who the DJ is? it’s the WOLFMAN!! it’s not the original wolfman but it doesn’t matter because it feels the same. my brother cullin and i take a walk up to the concessions for a few rounds of rock em sock em. it’s this big 2 player game with these cast iron dummies inside and you use a series of levers to manipulate them into punching each other in the face. i think it must be a precursor to video games and it’s probably like 50 years old. it’s purely mechanical with no sound effects or display screens but its sooo fun! everyone in the popcorn line watches us duke it out. you get 3 rounds for a quarter. Cullin always beats me but it’s still the best $1.50 i could think to spend. after that we head for the screen. there’s this great stretch of grass right in front of the screen that’s perfect for throwing the frisby. we play right thru the first previews. when feature 1 starts, we’re back in the car. we bring our own snacks like twizzlers and things but at some point in the night, we have to get a popcorn from the concessions. it’s really the best! at intermission, we take a slow stroll around the place and have a talk or goof off. sometimes we’ll go back to the screen for more frisby or just to wrestle in the grass. when we get tired, we lay out under the dancing hotdogs and icecreams and we laugh and talk. we lay there looking up at this enormous screen filled with enormous dancing snacks under an even bigger sky. later in the year, toward september, you can see the old classics like American Grafitti and Rebel Without a Cause and Jailhouse Rock. All these old guys and gals show up in their poodle skirts and leather jackets and 50s model cruisers with flaming paintjobs and chrome galore. I don’t go just for what’s on the screen; i go for what’s under it. i go for the love of friends and family, for a piece of a golden past and for all the memories we’re making now. Bring your kids. when they’re older they’ll always remeber when daddy took them to the drive in. bring your friends and throw the frisby with us or just lay under the stars and sing along with the wolfman. it doesn’t matter much what’s playing. the real feature of the night is who’s there with you. admission is $7.00 for adults and $3.00 for children 11 and under and for seniors. a better time can’t be had for 5 times the admission!

Current showtimes are listed here.

Is the McHenry Outdoor still open during good weather months? Their website is currently down.