Spring Dinner and a Movie brings big screen fun to Olde Towne starting April 11
By Sherry Lucas
Main Street Clinton’s Dinner and a Movie series flickers back to life on Clinton’s brick streets, Friday, April 11, on Jefferson Street between City Hall and Leake Street.
A community staple since its first instance in 2013, the event has grown over the years and continues to attract families and friends into the heart of town for a free and fun event and a good dose of community camaraderie.
A Bug’s Life opens the series of four movies, scheduled every other Friday evening through May.
A Bug’s Life, a 1998 animated comedy, follows the adventures of a misfit ant as he tries to save his colony. The selection heralds the Caterpillar Parade, a seasonal highlight that winds through Olde Towne the following day, Saturday, April 12.
The rest of the schedule for 2025 includes three more offerings.
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron will be shown on Friday, April 25. The selection is a 2002 animated Western with a story about a mustang captured during the American Indian Wars, then freed by a Lakota man, and the bonds he forms with his liberator and a mare named Rain.
The Little Mermaid comes to the big screen on Friday, May 9. The 1989 animated musical revolves around young mermaid Ariel, her fascination with the world beyond her home under the sea and her efforts to join that world.
Hook, on Friday, May 23, is the 1991 live action fantasy adventure helmed by Steven Spielberg, which stars Robin Williams as a career-driven lawyer/adult Peter Pan, whose arch enemy Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps his kids and forces a return to Neverland to save them.
All movies start around dusk or sunset. Attendance typically ranges from around 150 to an average of 300, with viewership hitting an all-time high of 800 when Frozen was on the schedule.
Movies are suggested by Main Street Clinton staff and board members, and selected based on availability, popularity and the consensus of the staff and board, said Main Street Clinton Assistant Events Coordinator Kim Smith.
The movies pull all ages to Olde Towne — families, friends, couples and college students, Smith said. Attendees can grab dinner at a downtown eatery to enhance the evening with tasty treats from The Bank by Pizza Shack, 303 Jefferson, Krilakis, Meme’s Brick Street Bakery and Coach’s Creamery. Main Street Clinton is working with the restaurants to provide take-out options and online ordering.
Clintonians are encouraged to keep an eye on Main Street Clinton’s Facebook and Instagram pages for updates on themed promotions offered by Olde Towne merchants on movie nights, Smith added.
