'Screen on the Green' Hits Summit Thursday Night

Summit’s “Screen on the Green” Movie Series kicks off Thursday night on the Village Green.

An 8 p.m. dance party will feature music from Summit Soundz, followed by the screening of “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” once it’s dark, says Judith Josephs, Summit’s Director of Community Programs, which sponsors the movie series. A magician will also be on site for the kids.

“The movies are all free thanks to all of our sponsors,” Josephs said. “For each one of our movies, we have a dance party and we have concert characters or something themed.”

“Toy Story” will be screened on July 25, Josephs said, and Woody and Buzz characters will be there. There will also be a toy parade for the kids to enjoy.

“Rise of the Guardians” comes next on Aug. 1. Josephs said Santa will be there and snow will be made for the event.

“Somewhere in Time” will be screened on Aug. 8, but this is an adults only night.

“That’s a romantic film with Christopher Reeve,” Josephs said. “We’re going to have a photo booth with Victorian costumes to put on and take pictures, and a dance party of course.”

Josephs said this movie series, which began in 2011, features a giant 30-foot screen that is inflated, and features “cinema sound and project clarify of today’s best BluRay players,” according to the movie series website.

The movie series also won the 2013 New Jersey Recreation and Park Association’s Excellence in Visual and Cultural Events Programs Award, Josephs said.

Summit’s Summer Greenmarket, which opened last week, happens to be taking place on Thursdays from 3 to 8 p.m. through Sept. 12, and Josephs said that’s no coincidence.

“They planned it thinking the downtown is filled with people on Thursday nights so that it might work out,” she said. “We don’t run that, but it has been linked.”

Marin Mixon, Executive Director of Summit Downtown, Inc., said the Greenmarket was scheduled for Thursdays to coincide with the movie series.

“We’re working with [the Department of Community Programs] to see if we can come up with some synergies about the 'Screen On The Green' and our market,” Mixon said. “Those movies don’t start until dusk so it’s kind of perfect if someone wants to come in, shop, get a bite to eat and then go over to the movie.”

Josephs said all summer programs sponsored by the Department of Community Programs is made possible through corporate sponsors.

“Everything we do in the summer, we have to generate the revenue,” Josephs said. “We had to find sponsors for the Fourth of July, the Hot Summer Nights Concerts, the movies. At the movies, we actually show preview roles and we show commercials and ads, and that’s how we pay for it.”

The sponsors for the 2013 “Screen on the Green” Movie Series include:

Smythe Volvo, Overlook Medical Center, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, PNC Bank, Pizza Vita, Investors Bank, Summit PAL, MERCK, Carolann Clynes Fine Homes, Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Attorneys at Law, The Rubino OB/GYN Group, The Connection for Women & families, Shaping Summit Together, The Summit YMCA, The Rotary Club of Summit & New Providence, and the Lions Club.