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Wednesday, September 09, 2026

The Avenue

Cars file into Gainesville’s only drive-in theater on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025.
The Avenue

Gainesville debuts first drive-in theater since 1992

Under a starry night sky, the soft hum of car engines and the smell of fresh popcorn drifted through the air. Families cozied up in their cars, children fidgeted with excitement and clusters of friends settled into lawn chairs as “Matilda” lit up screens at Gainesville’s first drive-in movie theater since 1992.


"The Conjuring: Last Rites" came out in theaters Sept. 5, 2025.
The Avenue

‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ honors the legacy of an extensive franchise

At the ripe young age of 7, sandwiched between my mom and a stranger in a packed theater, I saw “The Conjuring.” I was a self-deemed horror fanatic — even though my main horror knowledge at the time consisted of R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” — but I’d never truly experienced fear until that clapping game scene. I remember going to bed that night swearing my closet door moved on its own.


A market goer checks out a jewelry display at the Aug. 27 Gator Market. The monthly shopping palooza was sprawled across the Reitz Student Union North Lawn.
The Avenue

Meet some of the student vendors at this month’s Gator Market

Albort the Gator (yes, you read that right) can be found on stickers on laptops and air fresheners in dorms across campus. The cross-eyed, goofy gator was co-created by 19-year-old UF sophomore roommates Allyson Trump and Kahlia Hsieh in February, when they were up at 4 a.m. thinking about how UF “needs cute merch.”



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