Movies & Moonbeams

A couple weeks ago, we experienced our first "Movies & Moonbeams" event.  We were at a birthday party being held at Riverfront park in Shreveport.  There were crews setting up a huge projection screen on the pavillion.  Curiosity got the better of us and we discovered they would be showing the iconic classic of the 1980s - "Top Gun" in an hour or so.  Of course, we stayed.

By the time the movie started, 200-300 people were scattered across the park in camp chairs and on blankets muching popcorn and mingling with one another.  In the background, kids ran through the dancing fountains and played the usual childhood games - tag, freeze tag, and keep away.  Couples "canoodled" (after all it was "Top Gun) and young families took in the cool breeze.  Yes, there was a nice cool breeze that evening. 

The movie was of course just as good as when we first watched it in 1984.  But, that really wasn't what mattered to me.  It was the shared event, the shared experience of watching a movie out in the open.  It brought to mind the lazy days of summer of my youth.  We'd all pile into the family station wagon and head down to the local Drive-In for the weekly double feature.  Mom and Dad sat in the car with the baby, windows rolled down, speaker in the window.  We kids layed out blankets on the ground and the hood of the car.  After a few minutes of playing frisbee, we settled down to watch movies such as "Bed Knobs & Broomsticks", "The Jungle Book", "ET" and "Star Wars" (the original one).  We munched on popcorn mezmerized by the sites on the big screen, dazzled by the hundreds of lightning bugs and cooled by the summer nighttime breeze. 

To me, "Movies & Moonbeams" is the modern day version of a Drive-In.  You still have to slather on bug repellant and tote in your snacks.  Instead of  reclining the seats of your car, you pitch a couple of camp chairs or a blanket.  But the magic is the same.

To capture your own summer magic through  Movies and Moonbeams visit their website at http://www.moviesandmoonbeams.org/.  Movies are held throughout the summer and fall at various parks throughout Shreveport/Bossier.