Movies at Marymoor has been a summer tradition for a number of years now (9 years according to the
website). This is the first time I’ve gone. A beautiful, sunny, summer evening with nothing to do; I took the chance to see a movie that’s always been one of my favorites, regardless of how old it is or the corny factor.
1)
It’s only about 5 miles from my house.
2)
Cost is $6 if you bring your own food ($1 to
park in a KC Park and $5 entrance fee).
3)
Lots of room to sit or lay down.
4)
Food trucks with interesting food.
5)
Lots of Garbage cans
6)
Pet and kid friendly
7)
Trivia, raffles and pre-show entertainment
8)
Beautiful weather
9)
Plenty of Honey Buckets
10)
Great location and set-up.
I packed up my bamboo chair, a blanket, a sweater and some
entertainment for the pre-show and drove the few miles down to the park. $1 to park – if you have a monthly or other
pass you can use that too – and lots of parking available. You could also walk the roughly 2 miles from
Redmond Town Center and get your exercise in before you indulge in caloric
overload from movie food. What’s a movie
without junk food? Of course, then you
have to walk back to the center in the dark after the show; so the dollar is
well spent.
I arrived about 6:30 and there was a short line; people take
your $5 (cash is preferred), stamp your hand for re-entry and you enter the
flagged off area. My first impression
was that there were a TON of garbage cans placed all over the site – always a
great idea for an outdoor venue. The
food trucks line the back of the area, as well as a few other tents (Rainbow
Girls and a table for Autism awareness).
Asian, Mexican, Grilled Cheese, Whole Foods, Kettle corn and a
sweet/coffee truck were available.
Average price was about $6-8 for the main course; beverages and sides
(fries, chips, cookies, and snacks) were extra.
There were also sponsor tents on the other side: Geico, First Tech, Station 106.9 Warm, Redmond
Reporter, Pet Pros and a couple of others.
You could fill out a raffle ticket, get a free glow stick and enter a
couple of sweepstakes if you chose.
I spent $13 on a “Bluesy Chick” grilled cheese sandwich, a
coke, a bottle of water and a bag of sweet potato chips from the Grilled Cheese
truck. The sandwich was small for $8 but
very delicious. I also bought a mocha
and an ice cream from the sweet truck and was good to go. Many people brought in coolers and bags with
their own foods which I’ll definitely do next time. I wasn’t sure of security or what was allowed
or not so I packed light.
Seating is sectioned in “low back chair” area (at the front)
and “high back chair” area (behind the low chair area). Many people had inflatable mattresses,
sleeping bags, pillows/pets, blankets for their set-up; there were also a lot
of chairs. Kids and dogs were allowed,
no smoking in the flagged areas and lots of Honey Buckets (lit too for night
time!)
I’d say the average age was late high school to early 30’s with a fair amount
of families and middle aged (myself included) viewers. Alcohol wasn’t sold there, but there were no
specific rules about alcohol. The crowd
was well-behaved and very family- and pet-friendly. I saw everything from Surface/iPads to
laptops and smart phones in the crowd, some brought board or card games to
entertain before the movie and even some (like me) brought books or
kindles. Music plays over the
loudspeaker from 106.9, “The Cabriri” walked through the crowd and entertained
before the movie started and the event offered a trivia game with prizes to
keep the crowd busy before showing. Medical
assistance is available at the projector area.
The movie started at 9:10 (just about completely dark) and
the crowd was absorbed for the entire show.
The movie was over about 10:35 and after cleaning up my area (and the
area of a few others) I walked back to my car.
Leaving the parking area is always busy, so I sat and played games on my
phone until most of the traffic died down.
I was home by a little after 11 PM.
It’s still upsetting to me that with so many garbage cans available in
the area, there was still a lot of garbage on the ground. People are just inconsiderate and lazy.
I will say that although this is a family-friendly event; I was surprised by
the number of people who brought their under-15 children to the movie. “10 Things” is a High school movie and there
is swearing, adult situations and language and I wouldn’t have recommended it
for under age children. I’d stick with
one of the other movies that are more “kid” friendly if I brought my children.
What to bring:
- a blanket, sleeping bag, chair or inflatable mattress to sit on
- A blanket, sweater, sweatshirt or something to keep you warm after the sun
goes down
- Cash (some places take cards, but they prefer cash)
- Your own food or beverages
- Something to entertain yourself before the showing starts
- Bug Spray (I had a few nibbles, but I know it would really bother some
people)
- A flashlight for the walk to your car afterwards
The last
three movies will be “Mary Poppins” (August 14th), “Jurassic Park”
(August 21st) and “The Goonies” (August 28th).
