Free Disney movie series gets underway at Galion theater
Families with young fans of Disney movies have three more chances to watch for free at the Galion Community Theatre.
The venue's first ever Movies at The Galion kicked off Monday night with a free showing of Walt Disney Animation Studios' "Encanto."
Attendees who arrived early were given coloring books and crayons so that they could create art ahead of the presentation, according to Beth Anne Jarvis, the theater's publicist.
Coloring sessions will precede the remaining three movies as well.
"It’s a free series that we wanted to offer to the community, mostly targeted toward kids and students to give them something fun and safe and warm to do after school," Jarvis said.
Coming up are 'Soul,' 'Raya' and 'Luca'
Doors for each show open at 6 p.m. The movie will begin each night at 6:30 p.m.
Remaining Disney movies to be shown are: "Soul," Feb. 27; "Raya," March 20; and "Luca," April 24.
"The idea was to use those movies to show different communities or cultures," Jarvis said.
Funding to purchase the licensing for the movies was covered through a grant from The Community Foundation for Crawford County.
"We applied for the grant and talked about how it would benefit the community and bring the kids into the arts," Jarvis said. "That covered all of the legality behind the series."
No tickets are required and attendees were not required to register ahead of the event.
"We're super excited about the turnout that we're seeing," Jarvis said before the movie. "With free events, you never know if you're going to have a million people knocking down the doors or no one show up."
Disney fans of all ages are welcome
Parents, grandparents and friends are encouraged to accompany their young Disney fans to the movies.
"Anyone is welcome," Jarvis said. "It's targeted toward the kids with the games and the coloring, but anyone is welcome."
Concessions will be available for purchase before and during each of the remaining Disney movie showings.
The theatre staff hope to continue the series at the end of the year with showings in October and December, but that decision will be based on attendance at the first four movie showings.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Free Disney movie series kicked off Monday with three more scheduled
