The landmark Launching Pad Drive-In restaurant in Wilmington, Illinois — famous for its Gemini Giant fiberglass statue that stands next to Route 66 — has closed, and its future appears to be uncertain.
Several reports of the restaurant’s closing have surfaced on various Route 66 social media groups in recent days, including unconfirmed rumors the Launching Pad will be converted into a visitors center.
An email to the restaurant elicited this reply on Saturday:
It is temporary closed it will be opening sometime in the future.
Nothing definitive at this point. Nothing to post or share at this moment.
A message to co-owner Holly Barker was not returned. The other co-owner, Tully Garrett, apparently has deactivated his Facebook account.
The COVID-19 pandemic, including its restrictions on European travelers from traveling to the U.S. for a long period, hurt the restaurant badly and kept it closed for months.
Garrett stated on the Launching Pad’s Facebook page in March he was facing health issues, and Barker was, as well.
“Our goals are ‘long term’ but nothing is set in stone as to finding a way to open to full capacity,” Garrett wrote at the time. “This will be a moving puzzle this year till our health improves as well as the economy.”
The Launching Pad did reopen for the Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor weekend in early May but apparently closed again by late July, citing staffing issues.
Barker and Garrett purchased the long-closed restaurant in 2017 and reopened it about 18 months later.
The restaurant’s claim to fame is its 28-foot-tall Gemini Giant. The Launching Pad and Gemini Giant were inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2000. Both long have been one of the biggest photo opportunities for Route 66 travelers.
John and Bernice Korelc opened a Dairy Delite at the site in 1960. It was renamed the Launching Pad after an expansion in 1965. The Gemini Giant landed there in 1965 after John Korelc saw a Muffler Man during a restaurant convention. John Korelc retired in 1986.
Morey Szczecin bought the property in 2007 after longtime owners Jerry and Sharon Gatties retired. But the restaurant struggled and closed in 2010 until Barker and Garrett emerged to buy it.
(Image of the Launching Pad Drive-In by John Larson via Facebook)
That’s a bummer to hear. I hope they’re doing well and they’ll be able to reopen. We took some friends last fall and ate there on their first route 66 trip.
So sorry to hear this. They are such a nice couple and we love the restaurant. Prayers for healing.
Not a staffing issue, management issue. They didn’t give their employees schedules, would ask them day by day if they were available to work. If they weren’t they would use that as an excuse to fire them. They didn’t pay their employees. The last day they were opened they kicked their employees out and never paid them or responded to them.
Now the owner sits with her crappy car in front of the giant so the tourist can’t take photos with the iconic Gemini giant.
Evidently you didn’t read the other post. She put some smashed up car smack up against the Gemini giant and now refuses to move it. In one picture there is a urn sitting on the hood of the car. As of this morning the car is still there but the urn is gone
Sorry to hear there have been health issues. Hope all will be well. Enjoyed taking a drive from Mokena for lunch. The food was great. Best wishes to you both.
As info – Tully Garrett is no longer co owner of Launching Pad. He relinquished that on June 29th. He is not happy about what is happening with it. He shut down FB shortly after issuing his statment.
Apparently some of those “yellow hammers” still exist.
Unfortunately, the Launching Pad appears to be done, regardless of statements made by one or the other owner. It has been closed for some time now, including during Red Carpet Corridor and Annual Motor Tour events. As others have stated, the current owner keeps a rather beat-up car, typically covered in some “decoration” or other, parked in front of the Gemini Giant to prevent visitors from getting photo ops. This includes people that have traveled from overseas to get a picture of this iconic statue.
It would be nice to see Wilmington take some kind of action, but perhaps there is not much they can do short of condemning the property. We all had such high hopes for this site, but it appears we have been let down. Their website, and Facebook page, have not been updated in a very long time, and while a posting on Facebook decries negative postings about the business, the current situation and the silence of the ownership only serve to support those comments.
This was a scam from the get go. They conned the community big time. The Gemini Giant will be remembered forever, long after the losers who own it are long gone. What king of mentally disturbed individual would park a piece of crap car in front of the iconic statue so nobody can enjoy it.