Summertime ‘movie nights’ return to Washougal

In the summer of 2021, the Washougal Business Association (WBA), with help from the city of Washougal, put on a “summer movie night” series, showing three family-friendly flicks at Reflection Plaza.

The city is taking the lead role this year and has high hopes for its new-and-improved Movie Night Summer Series event.

“I think last year was a learning curve to find out what people liked and the best way to promote this,” said Rose Jewell, the city’s community engagement manager. “There wasn’t a lot of turnout last year. I think people were really skeptical coming out of COVID, a little nervous. But we’re really doing our part to promote it this year, and I think we’ll have great success.”

The city of Washougal, with assistance from the WBA and the Paint Rollers, a Washougal-based mobile paint party business, will present three outdoor movie events in July and August. The series “supports the city’s ongoing efforts to boost engagement between local government and residents,” according to a news release.

“We want to bring people together to enjoy a nice summer evening with a free event,” Jewell said. “It provides an opportunity for friends and neighbors to be outside in a relaxed setting to enjoy the summer weather with some classic flicks. We’re looking forward to a good turnout.”

The movies will start at dusk. The series will kick off with “The Wizard of Oz” on Saturday, July 9, at Reflection Plaza (1703 Main St.); move to Hathaway Park (799 25th St.) on Tuesday, Aug. 2, for “Zootopia”; and conclude on Saturday, Aug. 27, with “The Sandlot” at Reflection Plaza.

“Zootopia” will be shown as part of National Night Out, an annual community-building event that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.

“We talked to the police chief, and they got to pick the movie,” Jewell said. “(‘Zootpopia’) shows police officers in a funnier, lighter (way).”

Washougal Mayor Rochelle Ramos took to social media to survey local residents about their movie preferences and received a variety of responses for the Reflection Plaza selections.

“‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘The Sandlot’ were two of the top five or six,” Jewell said. “We wanted some senior input, and of course they preferred ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Most of the seniors are big fans of Judy Garland and know a lot of actors from back then. That’s a movie that they grew up watching and are very familiar with. That was a major movie for them.”

The city will provide seating on a first-come, first-served basis and free popcorn, and encourages attendees to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and/or picnic baskets. A KONA Ice truck will be on site for the Reflection Plaza movies as well.

There will also be some pre-show activities, which will begin at 8 p.m.

“The Paint Rollers will be there, of course, with their rock painting,” Jewell said. “The Washougal library is coming in with some kids’ activities. We always try to invite the library in; it’s a good time to get their reading programs under way and get people to sign up for library cards. And the Washougal Senior Association will be there to give information to people about Meals on Wheels and the senior exercise program, and get people plugged into the senior association itself.”

And the city has even bigger plans for the future of the event.

“I really plan to ramp this up next year,” Jewell said. “Because we’ve invested in some of the licensing stuff, we’ll be able to budget for more, and if the council wants to do it, we will make this a more robust program. So this is kind of a learning time for us (and a chance) to get feedback from the public. We plan to build this up and provide more resources to it next year. We’re looking forward to it.”

For more information, visit cityofwashougal.us/MovieNight.