Chowchilla to play host at free events in city park

Thursday and Friday will feature two free performances at Veterans Memorial Park in Chowchilla.

The country blues bluegrass swing sounds of the Hillbilly Jazz Band will waft through the park starting at 7:30 p.m.

The park is located on Robertson Boulevard at 6th Street in downtown Chowchilla.

The final show of the Music in the Park concerts series will be Thursday, July 26, when the band Q-POP Radio brings the hits of the 60’s and 70’s to Chowchilla.

Music in the Park is presented by the City of Chowchilla along with major sponsors PG&E, the Madera County Arts Council, Johnson Controls, Inc., and Yamabe and Horn Engineering, Inc., along with Dianne and David Rich, all who actively support the season of community events.

This Friday, the City of Chowchilla will show “E.T., the Extra Terrestrial” at Movies in the Park, also in Veterans Memorial Park. Showtime starts at sunset, about 8:45 p.m.

Bring lawn chairs, blankets or sleeping bags to the free showing, and watch the film on the big inflatable screen with full sound filling the park.

Local community groups will sell refreshments at each of the movie nights.

Both a classic movie for kids and a remarkable portrait of childhood, “E.T.” is a sci-fi adventure that captures that strange moment in youth when the world is a place of mysterious possibilities (some wonderful, some awful), and the universe seems somehow separate from the one inhabited by grown-ups.

After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered and befriended by a young boy named Elliott. Bringing the extraterrestrial into his suburban California house, Elliott introduces E.T. to his brother and his little sister, Gertie, and the children decide to keep its existence a secret.

As Elliott tries to keep the alien under wraps and help him figure out a way to get home, he discovers that the creature can communicate with him telepathically. Soon they begin to learn from each other, and Elliott becomes braver and less threatened by life. E.T. rigs up a communication device from junk he finds around the house, but no one knows whether he’ll be rescued before a group of government scientists gets hold of him.

The final movie for summer season will be on July 27 and features Robin Williams in the original “Jumanji.”