Fieldale Pool hosted its first “dive-in” movie night Aug. 7, giving swimmers the chance to enjoy Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” while floating in the pool.
The pool opened earlier and closed later than usual for the event, and children attending received popcorn and drinks to enjoy during the movie.
“We were just trying to think of some interesting things, and started looking around at what other swimming pools do around the United States, and we saw potential for something called a dive-in. And we thought it would be a great idea to try this in Fidel since it’s never been done before,” said Sherry Quinley, one of the pool’s managers.
“I had a group that came in for another event that we did recently for our 70th birthday celebration, and the first thing they asked us is, can we do a movie? Please, please, do “The Little Mermaid.” Just because it would be nice, the music is very nice, and we have a great sound system tonight, and they said, “Let’s just do “The Little Mermaid.” It would be a classic that anybody could enjoy.”
Quinley said organizing the event required extensive planning.
“You have to have the appropriate screen. You have to get the appropriate license. We utilized Swank Motion Picture licensing, the equipment itself, the sound systems. We ended up, at this point, renting the sound systems. It costs $1,000 to be able to do this.”
Quinley said having a sponsor is essential because of the cost. The first sponsor was Autos By Nelson.
“Without them, we couldn’t do this, and we’d like to make this a regular thing as we move forward, but we need to get people used to what we’re doing.”
Quinley said the pool hopes to make the movie nights a regular event.
“We would like to have movie nights, for example, maybe once a week, every Friday night, and have the community submit requests for the movies they’d like to see, and have literally, a movie under the stars night, so that people can come and swim.”
Quinley said that in the event of rain, the movie night could be moved inside the old Fieldale Elementary School auditorium.
She said the Fieldale Pool hopes to hold three more movie nights this season and is open to an adult version of the event in the future.
“We’re hoping that it will just be a wonderful experience, and we can continue this throughout. Make this a seasonal thing every summer, just do movies.”
“For this season, as we’re testing it out. And we’re hoping to do is this. If tonight is a success, which it looks like it has been, I think that we could plan a couple more for the season. We close September 7th. And, of course, it’s always contingent on weather, and you always cross your fingers hoping it’s not going to rain.”
Quinley said the Fieldale Pool is looking for community feedback on the event to gauge public interest.
Caption:
Fieldale Pool hosted its first dive-in movie night Aug. 7, showing Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”
