Swampscott Outdoor Movie Season Starts With Grown Ups

More than 100 people gathered Thursday night at awaiting the start of the summer's first outdoor movie. 

The movie: Adam Sandler's comedy Grown Ups. 

A good portion of Grown Ups 2 — the sequel to Grown Ups — is being filmed in Swampscott this summer, so the town invited cast members to last night's movie though, as of 8:30 pm, it did not appear that any of them had made it to Linscott Park.

In the park as the sun went down people stretched on blankets and sat in lawn chairs.

They chatted and drank ice tea and lemonade and ate picnic dinners including pizza and salads.

A summer breeze stirred the large flag on Monument Avenue and in the distance strollers walked Humphrey Street above King's Beach.

In the park some tossed Frisbees and tennis balls or played catch with a baseball.

The crowd faced Hadley School where about a dozen Park League employees and Recreation Director Danielle Strauss installed the town's inflatable movie screen. 

The Park League crew stretched an extension cord from the power source at the nearby gazebo and pumped the screen with air, said crew member Liam Madigan-Fried.

They staked the screen's corners and hooked up the sound system — two large speakers aimed at the audience — and DVD projector, he said.

The crew had practiced the installation, the recreation director said. Two days ago they practiced the audio set up, and on Wednesday they practiced setting up the video system.

By 8:30 pm the show was ready.

It's the third year of the outdoor movie program.

The Recreation Department is scheduled to present three movies this summer.

Jaws will play on July 26, and The Lorax on August 16.

For more information about the movies call the Recreation Department @ 781-596-8854.