Movies in the Park returns for summer

Grab your pillows, blankets and the popcorn and get ready for a family night of fun under the stars as the Farmington Parks and Recreation department, along with First State Community Bank, begins the second annual Summer Movies in Long Park with the Disney film “Frozen” on Friday at dusk.

“I think this is such a great setting,” said Janeen McEntire, director of public relations for First State Community Bank. “It’s better than a drive-in. You don’t have to contain the kids or worry about them running out in front of a car.”

After only one year, Movies in the Park is fast becoming one of the summer’s biggest events. The family friendly evening will be offering three popular run movies on the third Friday of every month starting this week with “Frozen.”

July will feature “The Lego Movie”, and the series will conclude in August with “Despicable Me 2.”

“When I began planning, I asked people on the Farmington Civic Center Facebook what movies they wanted,” said Laura McLean, the program director for the Civic Center. “Everyone wanted ‘Frozen.’ So far we have had great reaction to the movies.”

In addition to offering great family movies for free, the Parks and Recreation Department will be offering free lemonade and popcorn to all movie goers and FSCB will be offering a tie-in with every movie.

“The bank is planning on offering something that goes with the movie choice on sight,” said McEntire, “Right now it’s still in the planning stage.”

“This is a fabulous idea,” said McEntire. “It’s an easy low-maintenance family night. We do things like this because we live in the community and we want to help the community prosper.”

Most may think preparing such an event would be a monumental task. But according to McLean, it wasn’t all that difficult and the expectations are very high for this year’s series.

“Swank Motion Pictures in St. Louis really helped us with choosing our movies,” said McLean. “We knew we wanted ‘Frozen,’ and then they helped us select from the best movies of the year. I think this year will be bigger than last year’s.”

For more information on Movies in the Park contact the Farmington Civic Center at 573-756-0900.

Families and friends enjoy a movie in Long Park last summer as part of the Summer Movies in the Park series. This year’s first movie is “Frozen” and will begin at dusk on Friday. 

Craig Vaughn is a reporter for the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-756-8927 or cvaughn@farmingtonpressonline.com