Outdoor movie nights for Silver Lake were a regular occurrence in the years before television quickly gobbled up so much of a family’s evening free time. Dedicated members of the Lakeside Baptist Church in Silver Lake had been kicking around the idea of sponsoring evening movies to be shown on the east side of the Silver Lake Public Library for some time. Church members Rebecca Corber and Bonnie Chockley asked if our library could host the event—the way movies had been conducted in years past. We readily agreed to be part of the resurrection of the Silver Lake Silver Screen!
With the Silver Lake City Council in concurrence and a donation of barricades to block off the street, things moved quickly ahead. The first of three planned summer movies was shown on June 25. It was an unadvertised trial run that was a great success; everything worked! Upcoming movie nights are set for Friday nights of July 23 and August 20.
Church members will be advertising details of the movies in the weeks before each event. Check here for more details as plans are finalized. We’ll let folks know what movies are playing and details on concessions for the evening.
The movie will start promptly as the sun sets and it becomes dark enough to view the screen. Last Friday, start time was a bit before 9 pm. It’ll get dark a little sooner next month—but not much.
Rebecca Corber, back left, awards the ‘Movie Basket’ door prize to Matt Stallbaumer who in turn gave the basket to sisters Shahtivia and Shahtia Campbell. The prize basket contained coke and diet coke, candy, microwave popcorn, chex mix, roasted almonds, a DVD of Secrets of the Mountain, the movie that was shown that evening.
Dan Knupp, Silver Lake Public Library director, paints over a weathered screen that has not been used for many years. Years ago, Silver Lake used to have regular community movies shown in the same location—before TV of course! The new screen is a rectangle instead of the “square” format that was used with older movie projectors.
Movie fans, Lance Smith and his son Isaak and Lance’s brother Caleb are finding their seats—it’s almost dark enough to start the movie! When movies were originally shown on the side of the building, attendees didn’t have to wait so long till dark—daylight savings time wasn’t used back then. The movie commenced at 9 pm and was over by 10:30.
Mr. BBQ, Jeff Chockley Lakeside Baptist Church member, grills complimentary hot dogs before show time. Attendees also enjoyed soft drinks, chips and homemade cookies.
