Boise, ID

Movies just aren’t cheap anymore, but I am. I have to really want to see a flick on the big screen in order to pay for it, and I know I’m not the only one like that. Add up ticket prices for a couple of kids and their parents with snacks, whether from the concessions stand or the corner market, and the total can be a deterrent for a lot of families. Solution? Family movie night at the park. Officially, CableONE Movie Night in Meridian. Every Friday night in the summer the city sets up an inflatable screen in Settler’s Park and shows a movie, for FREE!

I can’t remember if this is the second or third year the City of Meridian has put on movie night in the park. My daughter has been hooking up with friends and cousins and heading over with munchies and blankets since it started so I decided to check it out for myself.

The movies start at dusk, so people start filling up the park pretty early in the evening. The speakers generate a lot of sound, but you can hear best if you set up pretty squarely in front of the screen. By the time I got there the crowd was huge! I mean, I knew my daughter and her pals were there somewhere, but I never spotted them. Families had set up from the front of the screen all the way to the center sidewalk under the playground trees. Teenagers were milling around the entire perimeter. Now, there’s something about the life change from being a milling teenager to being the young parent of little ones that shifts a person’s mentality to one that can be very put off by milling teenagers. No offense meant, but it’s a fact of life and I’ve been there myself. So, in order to make those new parents comfortable and to generally keep things family-friendly, Meridian’s Finest were on foot patrol.

People brought their own movie snacks, but were able to supplement with goodies from the concessions stand. There was a steady line of customers well after the movie started.

I rode my bike into the park and set up toward the back of the crowd so I could stand up if I wanted to. There were SO many people and enough chattery teenagers behind me that I didn’t think I’d be able to hear a thing. But, miracle of polite miracles, when the movie started, the place settled down. The movie of the night was “Surf’s Up”, which turned out to be a really fun show. Great weather, a friendly crowd, and good entertainment–what a fun way to see a movie in the summer!

Since summer nights in Idaho stay light for so long, dusk (when the movies start) hits pretty late. By the time the movies in the park are over, it’s quite late and much darker, so watch out for people who arrived on foot or bicycle. There are plenty of walkers and bicyclists because Settler’s Park is right in the middle of a lot of housing on Meridian Road between Ustick and McMillan. Check here for the schedule for the rest of the 2008 season and have a great FREE time at the movies! http://www.meridiancity.org/parks_rec/movie_night_in_meridian/index.asp