Review of Movies on the Lawn at Norton Commons in Louisville, KY

 photo photo1_zps08ad798e.jpgSummertime in the Louisville area offers many opportunities to watch free (or cheap) outdoor movies. My family decided to go watch the Lego Movie at Movie on the Lawn at Norton Commons.

We packed our own snacks and drinks, bug spray and grabbed a couple of chairs and blankets before heading to the movie. I thought we were allowing ourselves plenty of time by arriving at 7:30 for a movie that would not start until nearly 9:00. Half of the lawn was already filled by 7:30. We started to put our stuff down behind the line of chairs and blankets, but quickly saw that we had no chance of really seeing the movie without all of us having chairs. I decided to take a quick look up front, hoping to find a small area of open grass for the five of us. Luckily, we found a spot about ¼ of the way from the screen, but we couldn’t use our two chairs without blocking the families that had already set up behind us. This was kind of a bummer, but at least our somewhat early arrival allowed us an opportunity to find a spot up front for our blankets.

 photo photo2_zpsf248434a.jpgMany of the children were playing in the grass and area around the lawn before the movie. There was music playing and Valhalla Dental Center was handing out popsicles, popcorn balls and small bags of kettle corn to everyone. I noticed that some families had walked the short distance to Gelato Gilberto and brought it back to the lawn. Other families had food from some of the other eateries located in Norton Commons.

We were given a 15 and 10 minute warning before the movie started. The movie started a few minutes before 9 pm. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but we could still make out the picture. We had to spread out on the blankets in order to find spots to view the movie. Half of the screen was out of my view for most of the movie, but I didn’t hear any complaints from the kids, so I wasn’t going to disturb the peace!

The Norton Commons movie lawn is long and narrow and lined with newly planted trees and a sidewalk. Spreading out, outside the lawn onto the sidewalks is doable, but you might be looking around a tree versus high back lawn chairs. The projector screen was decent size (perhaps raising it a little higher would help everyone be able to view it even without a chair) and the sound quality was perfect. I had to get up once to take one of the kids to the restroom and saw that the lawn was nearly full and many families had spilled out onto the sidewalks. The sound was still of high quality all of the way in the back.

 photo photo3_zps900ac090.jpgMy kids immediately asked to come back for next month’s outdoor movie night. Lessons learned: 1. Bring a chair for everyone to ensure unimpeded viewing of the screen. 2. Make sure you limit the liquid intake. I did not see any public restrooms or port-o-potties. Luckily, we were able to use a restaurant’s restroom before they locked their doors. 3. Arrive super early! Despite the sore back from not having a chair during the movie, the kids stayed happy and left singing, “Everything is Awesome!”

By guest contributor: Nicolle

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