By TEREASA NIMS
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — The city will soon have a $25,000 inflatable outdoor movie screen and sound system, thanks to an anonymous donor, Mayor Rick Sollars said.
“What?!? That is awesome,” said resident Angela Mac.
In years past, the city scheduled “Park It” program movies in Heritage Park during the summer. Now with its own screen and system, the city can show a regular schedule of free movies for residents.
“This new screen will be featured in a variety of community events, and will be a great source of free, fun family entertainment,” event coordinator Chelsea Nunnally said.
Although “movies in the park” will definitely be the idea, the actual name for the program is up in the air right now. The city of Wyandotte shows free outdoor movies on a regular basis, projecting against the wall of an old downtown building. That program is called Flicks on Bricks.
“I don’t know what we’ll come up with, but it’s an exciting opportunity for the city of Taylor,” Sollars said. “Things like these help bring the community together. The movies will be free, and they will also create an opportunity for our non-profits in the city. Maybe those groups can do concessions and make a little money. People always see things like this and ask, ‘Why don’t we do this in Taylor?’ We’ll, this time we’re lucky enough to be able to do it.”
Sollars said that the city plans to show one or two movies this year, likely inside Heritage Park or even the Sheridan Center Open Air Pavilion. Next year, approximately May through October, the system will be scheduled throughout the community.
With Heritage Park an obvious location, the movie screenings will be moved to other locations, like Northwest Pool in Northwest Park or the William Ford Senior Activities Center.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of fun with this,” Sollars said.
Sollars said he plans to put together a corporate sponsors program for the licensing fee of $200 to $400.
(Tereasa Nims can be reached at [email protected])