Vandergrift to show movie in the park Oct. 17

Vandergrift will host a movie night in Kennedy Park on Saturday, Oct. 17. The field will open around 5:30 p.m. for viewers.

The plan was initially discussed at the council’s September meeting. Councilman John Uskuraitis said he pitched the idea “to give the community something to look forward to” amid the pandemic and subsequent closures.

The borough had to cancel its annual Halloween parade through town due to covid-19 safety concerns.

Uskuraitis is hopeful the movie event will allow another outlet for residents to celebrate. Licensing restrictions prevent him from promoting the movie title publicly, he said, but it’s a family-friendly Halloween-themed film.

If people are interested, he said, the event will include “trunk”-or-treat before the movie begins — where people decorate their car trunks and pass out candy.

Uskuraitis said everyone will be asked to maintain the recommended social distance and follow health guidelines throughout the event.

Vehicles will be able to drive directly onto the field and the audio will be broadcast through speakers through an FM radio station. Uskuraitis said the event is still open to food trucks and sponsors interested in participating.

This will likely be the only movie screening in the park this year, as facilities will soon need to be winterized.

But Uskuraitis said he hopes to have as many as three next year.

“Hopefully this is something we could do regularly,” he said.

Halloween trick-or-treating is still scheduled to occur from 6-8 p.m. in Vandergrift on Saturday, Oct. 31. At a meeting this week, council also decided to allow the police and fire departments to pass out bags of candy to trick-or-treaters. They will place the bags on tables outside, council members said, and discourage groups from crowding.

“Kids right now are having a rough time with everything,” Mayor Barbara Turiak said. “Here’s Halloween coming up. … We can do something just to give them a little boost.”