Boats pull up to Lake Anne Plaza to watch “Back to the Future,” the first film in the Lake Anne summer film series Sunday, June 9. Photo by Alex McVeigh.
Dark clouds and the threat of rain didn’t deter more than 100 people from gathering at Lake Anne Plaza for the first installment of Lake Anne’s summer film festival. The crowd gathered in front of a large movie screen to watch the 1985 classic “Back to the Future.”
Showtime at Lake Anne
The Lake Anne summer film series will take place every second Sunday through September. All movies will start at sundown, and admission is free.
July 14—“Ghostbusters”
Aug. 11—“Some Like It Hot”
Sept. 8— “When Harry Met Sally”
“What a cool idea to get people to Lake Anne on a summer Sunday evening,” said Vanessa Sherman of Reston. “When we first showed up, I had no idea how it was going to work, what kind of setup they would have, but I have to admit, it was perfect.”
The screen, which came from Moonflicks, a company that shows outdoor movies, was inflatable and placed in front of the Washington Plaza Baptist Church. Visitors brought camp chairs, blankets, coolers and picnic baskets and set up along the plaza to watch. Others scouted out a prime location at Kalypso’s, where they could dine and see the movies.
“If I knew what was going on, I would definitely plan to get one of the outdoor seats at the end to sit and watch the movie,” said Jordan Burgess of Reston. “I came to watch the Heat-Spurs game at the bar, but ‘Back to the Future’ is one of my all time favorites, and I’ve never seen it on a big screen.”
Lake Anne Plaza posted movies on their Facebook page over the last few months, allowing people to vote for a movie in several categories: retro, family, classic and date night.
“Back to the Future” was the retro choice, and it proved to be a popular one. Someone even drove to the event in a DeLorean, complete with a license plate reading “88MPH,” (the speed needed to travel through time in the film), and a flux capacitor.
“I’ve never been to Lake Anne before, but I must say I’m very impressed. They’ve got some great restaurants, and they had some people walking around giving out samples, and it was a perfect night for a movie,” said Sally Martin of Sterling. “They thought of everything, even covering up the light fixtures, so we could see clearly. Next time I think I’ll plan ahead and bring some of my own snacks.”
The movies will be shown the second Sunday of each month through September. Showtime will be at sundown; the estimated time of sundown for each date can be found at www.lakeanneplaza.com.