City Council appropriates $900 for Youth Commission activities

Cormier: Money will allow for more movies

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — Following a highly successful opening night for the Youth Commission’s “Movies in the Park,” the City Council approved a motion to appropriate an additional $900 to further the community initiative. Councilor Josh Cormier, who had to abstain from voting on the issue because of his involvement with the commission, said he was grateful for the funding. “I just want to thank the council for the appropriation to the youth commission,” said Mr. Cormier. “It was a very special night a couple of Fridays ago when we were able to show movies in the park.” According to Mr. Cormier, the huge success of the program was completely unexpected, but very encouraging for future events. “When I got there I thought maybe we would have 10 or 15 people in attendance because it wasn’t very well advertised,” said Mr. Cormier. “But people kept pouring in, and I would say that there ended up being 400-plus people there. We saw kids there with other kids that I would dare to guess wouldn’t have been able to see a movie at the movie theaters.” Mr. Cormier said he hopes to have another screening at Monument Park at some point before the end of August, but expects the majority of the future screenings be in September. “I’m thinking of doing them in September after school starts,” said Mr. Cormier. “In September it will be darker earlier and we will be able to do a couple showings.” The additional funding will help provide the $100 required for a license to show a copyrighted movie, something Mr. Cormier said limited their ability to have more than one showing. “This $900 will give us enough money to show eight more movies and still have some money left over,” said Mr. Cormier. “Granted we may not show eight more movies, but it gives us more of an opportunity to more for the kids and families.” Although the date for the next showing has not yet been determined, Mr. Cormier said the appropriation of the funding is the first step. ”I think what we did was a great service to everyone in the city,” said Mr. Cormier. “It is a lot of fun and we will be able to do more now that we have more money, and we will try to provide some food the next time.” oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 3 on 8/5/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 184)