By Jessica Parcell | [email protected]

City officials hosted their last Movie in the Park event with “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

The outdoor theater was a good cool down from the Superhero 5K earlier that evening. Family-friendly games and crafts broke out at dusk, and shortly after the last rays of sun disappeared, the audience took a turn down the rabbit hole to a world of unimaginable creatures.

Arts and Volunteer Coordinator Katie Lindquist said the movie pick of the night was a People’s Choice winner.

“Our first movie is always the first Friday night of Summerfest in June,” Lindquist said. “We usually do about two a month.”

Lindquist said the turnout to the outdoor movies put on by city leaders has been pretty good throughout the summer. She said their biggest turnout was the second-to-last showing, “Moana,” which attracted more than 900 people.

“This year’s been different, because we’ve added crafts and some games before the movie,” Lindquist said. “Whereas last year we just had the movie and concessions.”

She said the games and crafts seem to draw out more of a crowd than previous years.

“Tonight, we have wands you can have, or you can make superhero masks and play some games.”

Residents seem to agree. Josh Rueckert, a South Jordan resident, said he originally planned on having a birthday celebration at home, but when it turned out there was a movie going on, that sounded a lot better than what he planned.

“One of my friends was mistaken on what we were going to do for a party; he thought we were coming here,” Rueckert said. “I was like, ‘Oh I didn’t even know this was happening,’ So it was better than just like sitting around in a house and hanging out.”

Rueckert said maybe one of the best things that makes an outdoor movie so fun is simply the part about being outside.

“I just like being outside; I’m an outdoorsy guy,” Rueckert said.

For resident Samantha Mckay, it was proximity, curiosity and sitting on the grass that led her to the park.

“I haven’t seen this movie, and it’s close to where I live,” Mckay said, joking that reclining on the open green is all she really cared about. “My roommate’s really good at making sandwiches, and we get to sit on the grass.”