The town board for the town of Clymer discussed holding Friday movie nights at the Town Park during the summer, beginning the Friday after Memorial Day. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

CLYMER — Plans are in the works in the town of Clymer to begin movie nights on Fridays in the newly redone Town Park starting after Memorial Day.

Town Board Member Levi Swanson presented the idea for the event during the latest board meeting. The idea came from his involvement a few years ago with an organization that used to do Tuesday night movies.

“I thought that with our new park we could kind of showcase it with movie nights,” Swanson said. “I did some digging … come to find out that outside of the scope of your house it is considered public viewing which you need a license for.”

Swanson has contacted the company that provides the licensing. The plan is for the movie nights to begin the Friday after Memorial Day and to run until the Friday before the Fourth of July. These Fridays will be known as Five Free Fridays, and consist of a projector put up in Clymer’s Town Park and potential concessions available as well.

Swanson said the contractors have sent him a list of 580 potential family-friendly movies to choose from. He was also given a sponsorship form and mentioned that candy and popcorn and drinks that could possibly be sold during the event could have the money go towards local businesses. Swanson added that the Clymer Tulip Festival committee is also looking into doing a movie night as a part of the festival. Another potential resource that was suggested is reaching out to Findley Lake, who has done movie nights in the past.

The board discussed guidelines as far as movies that they wanted to show and whether or not they would be able to be the sponsors and raise money through the event or if they would have to hand it off to an organization like the Business Association, following different problems that have occurred in the past.

“I think that we can support it,” Town Supervisor Brian Willink said. “I’m not sure if we can actually be the fundraising arm of that thing. I think we would probably have to step back on that but we could be a kind of sponsor, I mean it’s our park, so we, as in the town, will be the host.”

The board also discussed including funding for it through the parks fund as it is a park event, and Willink said he would look into the fundraising aspect. There is also a possibility of having food trucks or welcoming business owners to sell food items. The board is also going to look into insurance coverage.

The company requires two weeks notice before the event to sign the contract and funding was approved through the parks fund. Movies will be picked at a later date once things are finalized and people will have the ability to bring chairs or sit at the picnic tables. Movies will start at dusk with the aim to be done by 10 p.m.