By Jessica Thompson  

Taylorsville - It can be an expensive adventure taking children to a movie theater. First, there are all the pricy treats, and secondly, it is almost impossible to ask young children to sit in one place for longer than five minutes, let alone for a whole movie. Taylorsville City’s Movie in the Park event is catered to helping families enjoy spending time together without having to fork out the big bucks.  A mother of four at the event said, “When you have a few kids it costs a lot of money to go out and do something fun, so it is nice to have a free activity, like this one, to bring the family to.” 

On Saturday, July 18 families gathered around the 18-foot inflatable movie screen to watch “Big Hero 6” and enjoyed the wide open spaces of this outdoor movie theater. The Movie in the Park program likes to show a kids movie, a classic hit and a sports or adventure movie. Besides the free movie, Families also get to enjoy free popcorn produced by the city’s new popcorn machine. Volunteers Marin and Tallen helped at this event by making and handing out bags of popcorn with fun flavors such as white cheddar cheese, jalapeno and nacho cheese. Many families attending this year’s Movie in the Park are grateful they have a place to let their kids run around and make memories. Sean and Samantha, attending the event with their two children, said, “We just moved from Washington and there are a lot more family fun activities here in Taylorsville than there was there.” 

The summer of 2014 was the city’s first attempt at the Movie in the Park program. Taylorsville City received so much positive feedback from the families who attended that they decided to make it an annual event. Kristie Overson, Taylorsville City chairman, said, “This is what Taylorsville city is all about: families. We have a lot of families in our city and we are grateful to provide such genuine family fun for all of them.”