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Film to bring a merry Christmas to Park City’s children

Free holiday movie returns for second year

Gary Crandall, left, and his son Matthew Crandall are putting on a free showing of a Christmas movie, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York for children in Park City. They hope the event becomes an annual tradition.
(Bubba Brown/Park Record)

When Gary Crandall and his son Matthew Crandall rented out a theater last December to put on a free Christmas movie for children in Park City, they hoped to spread holiday cheer throughout town but were uncertain how successful their efforts would be.

More than 500 children attended. The Park City Police Department and Park City Fire District showed up to interact with them. Santa Clause, riding in on a fire truck, was there, too.

It was a Christmas party fit for Park City.

“It was really a great experience to see the kids having a good time,” Gary Crandall said. “They all seemed to be real appreciative of it, and a lot of them brought their parents with them.”

Gary Crandall, a local developer, first thought of putting on a free Christmas movie for children because someone had done that each year when he was growing up in a small town in Idaho. And after last year’s success, he’s eager to do it again.

This year, the Crandalls are showing “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” The event, which is free for children 12 and under and their families, is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 10, at 9:30 a.m. at the Metropolitan Holiday Village 4 Cinemas.

“There were quite a few people with tearful ‘thank yous’ last year,” Matthew Crandall said. “It was a good way to bring the Christmas spirit early in the month. It was just a really good event with a lot of different people from the community. Hopefully we can get more people this time now that we have a little bit of a reputation for it.”

The Crandalls are aiming to have about 750 people attend this year. If the showing again proves successful, they will be well on their way to reaching their goal of establishing the event as a tradition. Eventually, they hope it draws enough interest that they can expand to the Redstone 8 theater in Kimball Junction, allowing them to spread even more goodwill throughout the area.

“I think this is just a neat way to give back,” Gary Crandall said.


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