By Nancy Johnson, Staff Writer
Oxford’s popular summer movie series, Movies in the Park, presented a special 3-D showing of the sci-fi thriller, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” on Friday, July 17. Approximately 400 movie fans of all ages attended the movie, which was the second of three scheduled for the summer months.
Crystal Messaros, who volunteers at the concessions stand, notes, “Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce and the library we offer a free movie on the third Friday of June, July, and August.”
Her sales at the stand were consistent, drinks and candy, plus an assortment of snacks donated by Herr’s Foods. At just 50 cents, the glow sticks were very popular as well. “The concession stand sales help to keep this program going,” Messaros explains.
Ken Pienkos, Director of the Oxford Public Library, admits, “I pushed for a 3-D movie this year. They are such an up and coming trend that we splurged a little with the glasses and all.”
The third and final movie for the season will be shown at Oxford’s Memorial Park on Friday, August 20 at dusk. Just bring a lawn chair or blankets to sit on. Tentatively scheduled for that evening is “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” The PG-rated movie is a live-action adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s illustrated novel about a wisecracking sixth grade student.
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Taylor Robinson says:
August 3, 2010 at 3:28 pm (UTC -4)
Taylor Robinson
August 1, 2010
In reference to your recent article on Oxford’s popular summer movie series, “Movies in the Park”, my perspective towards Oxford was completely changed after reading. I recently lived in Oxford for a short amount of time and thought that it was simply a small and secluded town. Your article on the “Movies in the Park” led me to consider the benefits on living within such a small community. The viewers were not just able to enjoy a movie free of charge but were also exposed to their neighbors and could have easily bonded with fellow townsmen. I also appreciated that the town was able to profit through concession sales, most notably the snacks supplied free of charge by the Herr’s factory located within Oxford. This seems to be quite a generous donation on their part. I have read that the profit from these sales will be the motive behind keeping the “Movies in the Park” program running and hope that they continue to do well. My only concern with the idea of this summer movie series was that the selected movie was shown in 3D. It seems to be that it would be quite more economically intelligent to play regular movies and save the town the expense of purchasing over four hundred pairs of 3D glasses. This is confirmed through the quotation given by Ken Pienkos, Director of the Oxford Public Library, in your article claiming, “we splurged a little with the glasses and all.” However, it must have been a rush for a town lacking a movie theater to have such new releases so readily available, along with 3D technology. I’m sure that the children of Oxford greatly appreciated all of the hard work put in by volunteers and can only hope that they will continue the effort as they grow. Therefore, I feel that this article has not only enlightened me to the culture of Oxford but also to the overall kindness of its citizens, thank you for sharing.