A drive-in style movie night hosted by the Kindersley Tourism Centre brought residents together last week for an outdoor screening of The Wild Robot.
The event, which took place August 23, began with gates opening at 9 p.m. and the film starting half an hour later, was free to attend and encouraged families to bring their own snacks and drinks. Space was limited, with parking spots arranged in advance to fit as many vehicles as possible.
Evan Pelletier, tourism advisor with the town’s tourism centre, said the night unfolded smoothly thanks to weeks of preparation.
“The night went very well. We worked a lot during the weeks leading up to make sure that there wouldn’t be any surprises if something broke at the last minute,” Pelletier said.
Organizers had to account for several logistics, including sound, screen size and projector placement. Pelletier said the team conducted a rough survey of the parking lot to calculate capacity and test equipment.
“There were a lot of things that we needed to consider for the event. We did a rough survey of the parking lot so that we can measure everything out and then we were able to calculate how many vehicles we could fit, how big of a screen we could get and where the projector needed to be,” he said.
He added that while the cost of acquiring a public screening license was higher than expected, Synergy Credit Union stepped in to cover the fee.
While outdoor movie screenings have been held in Kindersley before, Pelletier said organizers wanted to take a different approach.
“They've held movies in the park before, but we wanted to think of something unique instead of becoming repetitive,” he said. “Drive in theaters aren't very common anymore, and lots of people haven't had the chance to experience one, so we decided to see where that idea would take us.”
As for the future, Pelletier said the tourism centre has already discussed the possibility of making the drive-in movie a recurring summer event.
“We have already spoken about doing it again next year and some people have requested that we do it multiple times throughout the summer instead of just once,” he said. “This was a trial run that I personally think went very well.”