The service club put on free outdoor movies every Saturday night through Sept. 20
By GIA LOOMIS — city@theaggie.org
Each Saturday of September, the Davis Sunset Rotary Club showed weekly movies in the park. The Movies in the Park event is free to all and shows family-friendly movies including “Sonic 3” on Sept. 6, “Moana 2” on Sept. 13 and “Paddington in Peru” on Sept. 20. These outdoor movie nights are hosted in Central Park and begin at sunset, and attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs.
The event is largely supported by volunteers who aid in set up, equipment assistance and selling snacks such as popcorn, cotton candy and lemonade during the viewing. Additionally, Movies in the Park is supported by several organizations who make the event possible like Western Health Advantage, Swim America and Yolo Berry.
Beginning in 2006, Movies in the Park was organized and hosted by the city of Davis before budget cuts no longer allowed for the event. This led the Sunset Rotary Club to pick up the event in 2011.
Many Davis residents appreciate the Davis Rotary Club’s continuation of Movies in the Park. Long-time resident Gloria Aldrich reminisced on the tradition of the outdoor movie nights.
“I remember bringing my kids to Movies in the Park almost 10 years ago,” Aldrich said. “I’m happy to see that the Rotary Club has kept the event going all these years.”
While attendance at Movies in the Park is free to the public, the Rotary Club manages to fundraise by connecting with sponsors and selling concessions at the event. The proceeds help to support several programs funded by the Sunset Rotary, both locally and globally, including but not limited to the Davis Senior Center, the Ukraine Project and more.
Yet, Movies in the Park is not the Davis Rotary Club’s only form of fundraising and community service. Rotary Clubs across the country have been helping their community since their founding by Paul P. Harris in Chicago in 1905.
The Rotary Club’s origins can be found in the extensive history located on their website.
“Paul P. Harris, called three friends to a meeting,” the Davis Rotary Club’s History of Rotary reads. “What he had in mind was a club that would kindle fellowship among members of the business community. It was an idea that grew from his desire to find within the large city the kind of friendly spirit that he knew in the villages where he had grown up.”
The Rotary Clubs found their way to the West Coast in 1908, with the founding of the San Francisco chapter. The clubs expanded soon after, and by 1921, a Rotary Club could be found on every continent. Eventually, the club found its way to Davis where the local chapter was chartered on March 10, 2003.
As the club grew, their objectives managed to stay close to their original values — their focus remaining on service, especially to their community. In order to keep their objectives clear, all Rotary Clubs adhere to the same Objects of Rotary and Avenues of Service.
The Davis Rotary Club’s website describes their Avenues of Service based on their Objects of Rotary.
“For over 70 years (since 1927), the program of Rotary has been carried out on four Avenues of Service (originally called channels),” the Avenues of Service reads. “These avenues — club service, vocational service, community service and international service — closely mirror the four parts of the Object of Rotary.”
These Avenues of Service have guided the Davis Rotary Club to host several events, including Movies in the Park, along with sponsoring other causes in and around Davis. The last Movies in the Park event took place with “Paddington in Peru” on Sept. 20 in Central Park.
Written By: Gia Loomis — city@theaggie.org
