Rotary Club 585 - Los Banos California

Los Banos Rotary helped to bring back "community movie nights" to Los Banos in 2009

Film, Snacks, Bouncing, and Prizes - A Summer Tradition Returns To Los Banos
Story and Photos by Charles Guest

On September 12th the community of Los Banos was treated to free movies in the form of the "return of movie nights". The free movie nights were made popular a few years back in conjunction with the celebrations surrounding the 100th anniversary of the founding of Los Banos. At previous movie night events the people of Los Banos were invited to come out to Henry Miller Square and watch movies on a gigantic inflatable movie screen which was set up downtown at the end of sixth street - facing the statue of Henry Miller. Sadly, that tradition had to be curtailed in recent times because of city budget cuts.

Apparently numerous citizens have been interested in bringing the free movie movie nights back to Los Banos, and a couple of weekends ago everything came together to bring this popular tradition back to town. The Los Banos Rotary Club, The Los Banos Unified School District, and the City of Fresno joined forces and provided the community with an enjoyable and fun evening.

Utilizing the practice field on the Los Banos High School Campus (instead of Henry Miller Square) as the venue, a somewhat smaller, but unique double sided movie screen was inflated and the Disney/Pixar film Wall-E was shown to a crowd numbering somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 people. Though smaller than the movie screen that was utilized at Henry Miller Square, this unusual double sided screen seemed to work quite well and it did allow people to sit up a little closer.

While not as picturesque as Henry Miller Square, holding the movie night at the high school practice field seemed to have some practical upsides. People who attended the event commented on the change of location. Some noted that parking was easier because of the venue being directly adjacent to the high school parking lot. Others commented that they thought that the the seating was more comfortable because the crowd shared space on the huge lawn of the practice field instead of the cobblestones and cement in Henry Miller Square. In addition, unlike when the movies were shown at the downtown venue, no streets had to be blocked off for this event to take place.

There were other activities that evening as well. A bounce-house was provided - much to the delight of many young children who giggled and screamed happily as they played and ricocheted around inside the inflatable structure. Los Banos Police Officer Holden stood nearby watching and smiling as numerous excited kids enjoyed the springy fun before and even during the movie.

People also had the chance to win some nice gifts. Before the movie rolled, Gene Lieb (the president of the Rotary Club) came up to the front where student volunteers and other Rotary members helped him distribute dozens of raffle prizes that had been donated by generous local merchants and others. These prizes, which had been collected by members of the Rotary Club, ranged from gift cards, to free ice cream, to a barbecue. Best of all, the raffle tickets were handed out to anyone that attended the movie night - for free.

In addition to the bounce house and the free drawings, a few vendors were able to set up shop and throughout the evening people could get refreshments including popcorn and churros to snack on. At the September 16th City Council Meeting Councilman Tom Faria thanked the Rotary Club and the school district smiling as he noted that "...some folks made some money, our school choir program made a little bit of money..."

Rotary Club officials seemed pleased with how things went despite the fact that the movie-goers thinned out a little toward the end. "It was a learning experience for us, but I think it went rather well for our first time." said Mr. Lieb. Likewise, Mike Villalta, the Rotary Club secretary was also pretty happy. "Things went very smoothly" said Mike Villalta. He happily noted that after the crowds had departed there was very little in the way of litter to pick up.

Members of the Los Banos Rotary Club and others were so pleased with how the event went that some of their people are already considering the possibility of bringing the movie nights back again at a later date.