As of 3pm today it looks like we are going to get a passing shower until about 6pm give or take. We are still a go for the movie tonight so bring your appetite and let’s watch Madagascar.

 Don’t miss the showing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at Rockland Park on Tuesday, July 15th! In addition to the movie, Just Born is having a “Golden Ticket” of their own. The lucky person who picks the Peanut Chew with the Just Born “Golden Ticket” will get to take their immediate family on the Just Born Tour!!

By the way, you might want to Google the words to the Oompa Lumpa Song as there is a sing along version coming to Rockland Park. Special prizes for anyone who comes as their favorite Oompa Lumpa from the movie. (Favorite, what’s this guy talking about, they all look exactly alike!)

Also coming on Tuesday July 15th is the Cops-n-Kids reading program. Books will be available to keep those little imaginations going over the summer and don’t forget about Commerce Banks’ Summer Reading Program. It pays to read kids, literally. See Commerce onsite for details!! Come early, enjoy the park, last time, Commerce had some footballs to give away or bring a frisbee. Fun starts around 6:30pm. Movie will start when it’s dark enough.

For other Rockland Park Movie Nights, see the sidebar under Rockland Park - page for each movie date. Third Tuesday’s of the month.

Due to expected rain showers between 5-8pm the showing of Independence Day was postponed. The point of the event was a fundraiser for the restoration of the log cabin and with the good chance of showers, we didn’t think anyone was going to be hanging out waiting for the show in the rain, hence, no concession stand sales.

We have rescheduled the movie for Friday Night July 18th. There is a concert in the park prior to the movie. We will setup before the concert and be ready to go when the concert ends at 8:30pm. We will inflate the screen and start when it’s dark. Please come and enjoy the concert and the concession which benefits the log cabin restoration! Rain date is Saturday the 19th!

We will be showing Independence Day with Will Smith at the Rose Garden at 8th Avenue on Saturday July 5th. It will take place in front of the bandshell facing 8th Avenue. There are bathroom facilities at the venue.

Tonight’s Title Sponsor is Moravian College. Thank you Moravian for helping us with the movie licensing fee to bring you tonight’s movie Independence Day!

It is a benefit event for the DAR House. The log cabin replica of the first house in Bethlehem needs major work. Seems the termites have been having an unauthorized buffet there and the squirells also have been having their own brand of fun in the cabin as well. The concession stand benefits the effort to restore the building. Enjoy hot dogs, popcorn, water, soda and baked goods!

Movie will start about 20-25 minutes after sunset. It’s about 145 minutes so it will end around 11:15pm We are still working on a rain date for that event and I’ll edit the post when I have that info as well.

Maybe you can help us, think for a second back in time, do you have any pictures of Fairview or Friendship Park from days gone by? Did you go to Fairview School? Did you play at Tank Park. If you have some pictures we could use, we will give you a byline on those photos and FREE movie tickets…to the free movies in these parks.

Seriously, we want to gather some info on the past days of summer from Fairview and Friendship (Tank) Parks. Take a minute and look through those old albums or shoe boxes and let us know if we can scan those shots.

Update! A big shout out to Mark Atkinson and the BASD for supplying the photo of Fairview School below. Fairview Park used to be Fairview School. I think most of the school still rests below the macadam and (correct me if I’m wrong) the reason the macadam is up above street level is the size of the rubble pile below!

Well, we have done 4 Movie Nights at 4 different venues so far and I wanted to bring up the topic of where to sit. We have 5.1 surround sound. That means we have 5 speakers plus a subwoofer that pumps out the real low bass thumping stuff. Most of the dialog comes from the center channel speaker in front of the screen. Most of the rest of the sound comes from the front left and front right speaker. The 2 speakers about 100 feet back from where we project are the surround left and right. They are only playing something when there is a surround effect going on. The sound sweetspot is within this circle of speakers.

We place orange road cones on the speaker wires for safety so people don’t trip or ride bikes over the cables (Bad bad thing!) You are welcome to sit anywhere you like. You can sit in front of the projector, you can sit behind the project, you can sit back in the grass if you want, it’s all up to you. Just don’t park a chair right on top of one of the speaker wires. Other than that, enjoy the show.

Our screen is a front projection screen and we must be between 31-42 feet away with the lens we are currently using. Like I said, you can sit in front but please stay off the tarp.

The Cops-N-Kids reading program is coming to the next shows at Friendship Park - July 9th (Madagascar) and Fairview Park - July 10th (Bee Movie) to collect and distribute books. There will be 200 books available for free for kids to adults. They will be there from 6:30 - 8:30pm so come early to get the best choice. Also if you have books you don’t want, I’m sure they can find a home for your books! Thank you Cops-n-Kids!

Due to high winds in the forecast for Tuesday, June 17th, we must postpone the showing of Ant Bully until next Tuesday, June 24th.

The weather for Tuesday the 24th is looking fair. There is a chance of a thundershower around 7pm. Movies start around 8:45. Come out and enjoy some lemonade from the Alex Lemonade Stand brought to you through Just Born, relax in the park and watch Ant Bully.

 Movies Games and More is a project of the North by Northwest Neighborhood Initiative (Elm Street). It provides a social event in the neighborhood parks for people to come out and get to know one another and build a sense of community. The movies are FREE, bring your own lawn chair or blanket events. There will be 5 nights in Friendship Park and 5 nights in Fairview Park before we move indoors for the winter.

Fairview Park is located at 4th Avenue and West Market Street. Movies will be held on the second Thursday of each month through October. Friendship Park is located on East North Street about a block off Linden Street. Movies will be held on the second Wednesday of each month through October. We will start our pre-show programs around 6pm and show our “Feature Presentation” when it’s dark enough. Please see the pages for each park on the right and the pdf flyer available at the bottom for the full schedule.

It’s called Movies Games & More for a couple reasons. Movies are the main event of course but that’s just the start. “Games” include both on-screen Playstation3 and Wii Games as well as games and other programming we may have prior to the “Feature Presentation”. An example here would be Spirithoops - hooping for fun and exercise.

The “More” is about other programming we will bring to the parks for people in the neighborhood. An example here are the programs from the Bethlehem Health Department like Sun Safety, Immunizations, Nutrition, Fire Safety etc. Some projects in the works are plant swaps, tool training stations, cleanups etc. Watch this site for updated information about other programs we add as we go.

So come out, bring the family and a blanket or lawn chairs. Enjoy lots of hot dogs, popcorn and other refreshments brought to you and benefiting the Blockwatch groups that cover these parks.

Local Business Owners - we need your help! Please see the Title Sponsors Needed Page. Great opportunity to get your name out and support our neighborhood project. 

Here’s a PDF with this season’s movies. Print it and put it on the fridge!

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Enjoy the Show!

A.G.

P.S. Please silence your cellphones!