The way things are going these days, it’s tough for some families to afford a trip to the movies. Luckily, in addition to the family-friendly movies every Saturday on Fountain Square (at 7 & 9pm), the Cincinnati Parks Foundation has been showing family friendly movies in our parks all around the Cincinnati area.
Forget paying to see a movie and having to buy overpriced concessions, there are great movie options literally in your backyard! All movies start at dusk and will have concessions available.
Below are some of the remaining movie nights:
August 8th, Rapid Run Park
Movie: Madagascar 2 (there will be pre-movie events such as canoeing, face painting, balloon artist and magician)August 14th, Mt Echo Park
Movie: Hotel for DogsAugust 29th, Mt Airy Forest
Movie: Hotel for Dogs (repeat)
If you are looking more for musical fare, the 16th annual “Its Commonly Jazz” series is being kicked off this week at Eden Park in Mt. Adams. Since I’m not really familiar with jazz and we have been provided with a relatively cool summer thus far, these concerts are a great way to get a free introduction.
The website is billing this event as “staying green”, but it’s not clear whether there is an actual intent to have eco-friendly anything or if it is just a play on words since all events are outdoors. From what I understand, you can bring a picnic to enjoy while watching the music, but I am not sure whether alcohol will be allowed. The website gives good background on each of the performers, but seems to be a bit underdeveloped beyond that.
Below is the line up, all shows are from 6-8pm:
August 6th – Othello Molineaux & the Art Gore Quartet
August 13th – Vintage Keys
August 20th – Terell Stafford w/ the Erwin Stuckey Trio
August 27th – Mandy Gaines and her Dream Band
Maybe the economy has made the local government and parks board boost these kinds of outdoor events, or maybe they are just better publicized these days, but I hope they keep it up. Hopefully as more people get out of doors and enjoy our local parks they will better appreciate the wonderful parks system we have and the great amount of forethought that goes into the planning of the events that are planned in them. Many people do not know we have one of the top parks systems in the nation, and these events are a great way to get out and enjoy them for free!
