Friday, Sep. 03, 2010

Families flock to movie at Henry Miller Plaza

Free screening of Pixar's 'Up' is crowd-pleaser as hundreds spread out under the stars

Ann McCauley had a big smile plastered across her face Saturday night after an estimated 400 to 700 people gathered to watch the Disney-Pixar film "Up" on a large inflatable screen set up at Henry Miller Plaza.

"It was a cute movie, and it was really a lot of fun to see so many families come out with their kids and everything," said McCauley, who has put many hours into bringing the free movie nights back to Los Banos. "I think everybody had a good time. I think it's really a nice little finale for the summer... before we get into full swing of the school year."

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. sponsored the showing, the second one this summer.

"Monsters vs. Aliens," which was sponsored by Comcast, was shown to a much smaller crowd in July.

Bryan Behn, Merced County's recreation superintendent, helped to set up the county's new large-venue-capable projector and the 16-by-9-foot inflatable movie screen.

Behn was busy across the county this summer making sure movie events ran smoothly.

"This is our first full season of doing it," he said. "This year we had eight movies planned [countywide], and this is the seventh out of the eight. We've hit Merced, we've hit Los Banos, Winton, Planada, Hilmar, a few areas. We've tried to spread it out."

Behn indicates that behind the scenes much paperwork is required in order to stage a movie night. He works with licensing, finding concessionaires, making sanitation arrangements and working with sponsors.

Behn was pleased with the assistance that Los Banos staff gave him.

"We've had a lot of help from the city of Los Banos as well," he said. "They've got some of their people out here with their programs and that type of stuff. They even located a concessionaire and all that. They made it pretty easy on us for this one.

"There's a lot that goes into it, but it looks like everyone's having a good time tonight."

Jorge Martinez, a 47-year-old grandfather, was one of those enjoying the evening, despite missing his grandchildren who had out-of-town commitments. Martinez believes that the free movie nights are more than just a way to watch a second-run film.

"I think this is awesome right here," he said as he looked out at a plaza full of families. "The parents are getting involved with the kids, and the city's getting involved, doing something for the kids. This is helping keep the kids off the streets.

"We're sitting here looking at our future. Making [the children] feel like they are wanted and needed in the city; it makes a big difference in a child's life."

If McCauley has her way, Martinez will have other chances to bring his grandkids to the plaza for movie night.

McCauley, who estimated that the crowd may have been as large as 700 people, indicated that she wants to continue having free movies next summer.

"There are some cities that do it every week but you know that's quite a budget," she said. McCauley said she believes that having two films, one in the middle of June and one at the end of August is "just about right."

She is already exploring ways to fund next year's films.

"I'm going to be talking to service organizations and trying to get some of their support on these things too. It benefits the whole community and, of course, the community also supports their venues."

McCauley may also explore the idea of showing classic holiday films at the new Los Banos Community Center near Christmastime.

When asked about rumors that something of this nature may be in the works, McCauley indicated that she hadn't come up with it, but she likes the idea.

"I've been a strong advocate of the community center for a long time. That would be a perfect place," she said.