The mayor of Wilmington, Illinois, announced the landmark Gemini Giant will remain in the city for at least the next 20 years.
Mayor Ben Dietz stated in a Facebook post that the loan of the Gemini Giant from the Joliet Area Historical Museum has been extended through 2045. The city council approved the loan pact this week.
After the museum purchased the giant at auction for $275,000, it was moved from its longstanding home at the closed Launching Pad Drive-In restaurant in Wilmington, restored, turned over to the city and rededicated months later at South Island Park off Route 66, less than a mile west of its old site.
Dietz also announced the museum will open a visitors center at 110 S. Park St. in Wilmington, near the Gemini Giant’s current location, called the Landing Pad.
The Landing Pad will be open on May 3-4, which is the Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival weekend.
“The Landing Pad will highlight the history of the Gemini Giant, Wilmington’s place in Route 66 history, local attractions, and merchandise including some new Gemini Giant merch as well as from local Will County businesses,” Dietz wrote.
After that, it will be open from Thursday through Monday.
The museum’s purchase of the Gemini Giant, using a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, took on extra urgency because its owner Holly Barker threatened to destroy the fiberglass giant if it didn’t sell for $100,000.
Barker and her former business partner, Tully Garrett, bought the Launching Pad in 2017 and reopened it about 18 months later. They shuttered it during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened it only sporadically before apparently closing it for good.
The Gemini Giant initially landed at the Launching Pad in 1965 after its original owner, John Korelc, saw a Muffler Man during a restaurant convention.
(Image of the restored and relocated Gemini Giant via the Wilmington Park District)