Summer movies at Lovett Library aim to spark interest in library area
The grounds of the Lovett Memorial Library in Mt. Airy will become an open-air movie theater this summer, and residents are invited to help pick the flicks.
On six consecutive Friday evenings, from July 8 through Aug. 12, the quiet, mostly-unused grounds next to the Free Library of Philadelphia branch at 6945 Germantown Ave. will be home to Moonlight Movies in Mt. Airy. Seating will begin around 8 p.m., with the movie starting around 8:30 p.m., said Elizabeth Moselle, director of Mt. Airy USA, one of the sponsors.
The Trolley Car Diner, another sponsor, has donated projection equipment for use, and will set up a small concession stand with proceeds going to support the library, Moselle said. An anonymous local donor also provided seed money for the Moonlight Movies series.
Anuj Gupta, president of Mt. Airy USA, said the movie project seemed like a perfect way not only to bring the community together, but to introduce them to the library grounds.
“Here we are on one of the nicest days of the year and we generally don’t see a soul on that land,” he said. “It’s flat parkland, relatively free of bushes, so it could be used for any number of things. It’s accessible, it’s not off limits by any means, but I don’t think the community necessarily thinks of it as a community space.”
A survey that went out earlier this week asks the public to pick which movies they’d like to see, giving 10 choices from a list of family-friendly classics like “West Side Story,” “ET” and “Annie,” along with more modern choices like “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “My Cousin Vinny.” If none of the choices strike your fancy, there’s a place for suggestions — but hurry, the survey closes on May 15.
In a larger sense, the movie series is part of an overall effort to link together the various blocks of Germantown Avenue that run through Mt. Airy, Gupta said. The ongoing streetscape project, which will wind down this summer, is also part.
“That section of Germantown Avenue has really become a hub of activity, but then you cross Mt. Pleasant and immediately you enter a sort of dead zone,” he said. “We decided we really want to connect the dots better.”
Here is a list of the movies being offered for the summer series:
101 Dalmations
Anchorman
Annie
Back to the Future
Batman Forever
Billy Madison
Bye Bye Birdie
Despicable Me
Dirty Dancing
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead
Edward Scissorhands
Enchanted
ET
Evan Almighty
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Field of Dreams
Finding Nemo
Ghostbusters
Harry Potter
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Hook
Ice Age
Jumanji
Jurassic Park
Karate Kid (original)
Major League
March of the Penguins
Megamind
Monsters vs. Aliens
Mrs. Doubtfire
My Cousin Vinny
National Treasure
Pirates of the Caribbean
Planet Earth: Oceans
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Ratatouille
Remember the Titans
School of Rock
Shrek 2
Sister Act II
Spider-Man
Spy Kids
The Neverending Story
The Nutty Professor
The Princess Bride
Twilight
Unbreakable
Uncle Buck
Up
West Side Story
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