Verne Drive-In in Luverne, Minnesota Announces 2023 Opening Date

Verne Drive-In in Luverne, Minnesota Announces 2023 Opening Date

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The Vern Drive-In Move Theater is Opening For 2023

I think all of us have a case of spring fever. We want to be outside and do stuff! We've been deprived for a while.

Going to a movie at the Verne Drive-In in Luverne, Minnesota, just east of Sioux Falls is an annual tradition. When I was a kid, going to the drive-in theater to see The Apple Dumpling Gang and Grease was one of my favorite memories.

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When Does The Verne Drive-in in Luverne, Minnesota Open?

The Verne Drive-In is set to open for the 2023 season Friday, April 21, 2023!   
You can see which movies they're playing each week by keeping an eye on their Facebook. Gates open at 7:00, show starts around dusk.

READ MORE: Do You Remember Sioux Falls' East Park and Starlite Drive-in Theaters?

The first drive-in movie theater opened in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey. At one time, there were more than 4,000 drive-in movie theaters in the United States. Today, less than 350 remain open. We're lucky to have one just a few miles away from Sioux Falls.

The Verne Drive-in in Luverne, Minnesota has been open for nearly 70 years and still attracts thousands of customers every summer. A few years ago, the Verne Drive-in converted to digital projection. If the theater wanted to survive, they had no choice. The film industry replaced their 35mm film prints with digital projection. If they didn't convert, there wouldn't be any movies to show.

Where is the Verne Drive-in in Luverne, Minnesota?

The Verne Drive-In is just over half an hour from Sioux Falls at 1607 S. Kniss Ave. in Luverne, Minnesota. Check out their website or Facebook page for more info on this summer's movies.

What Movies Are Playing at the Verne Drive-in in Luverne, Minnesota?

For a list of movies playing each weekend, check out the Verne Drive-In website.

Here Are The 7 Remaining Drive-In Theaters In South Dakota

If you were born last century...you know, in the nineteen hundreds (ugh)...you may have spent a summer evening in the car watching movies. I don't mean on your phone, I mean at the drive-in movie theater!

If you were in Sioux Falls in the 1970s and '80's you may remember seeing Jaws and Indiana Jones at The East Park or the Starlite Drive-In. Both drive-ins opened just after World War 2. The East Park didn't make it out of the '70s, closing in 1978. The Starlite survived long enough to see the birth of home video, closing in 1985.


Drive-in movies had a bit of a resurgence during the pandemic. They were a way to go out and do something social without getting out of your car.

If you tried one during that time, or you remember the fun of a warm summer evening watching movies on that giant screen there are still places in South Dakota and around Sioux Falls you can do it.

20 Things You'll Find In Every South Dakota Home

We have so many things in our homes. Some things are junk or half-used but others have great sentimental value to us.

Regardless of what an item means to us at the end of the day, I bet that most South Dakotans have these twenty items in their home; or at least most of us do.

Filed Under: Minnesota, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls News, Things to do, Vern Drive-in
Categories: Entertainment, Sioux Falls

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