Farmington Valley, Connecticut: Outdoor Movies Pop Up in Metropolitan Cities and Small Towns Alike

A bright yellow flyer at the Shoppes at Farmington Valley advertised something simple: free outdoor movies on Saturday nights at dusk through August 30. The lineup -- The Wizard of Oz, Shrek the Third, and Ratatouille -- was exactly the kind of programming that has quietly spread from cities to small towns across the country.

Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago show films in public parks. In Washington, the Mall becomes a giant open-air screening room every Monday night in July and August. In New York's Bryant Park, movie lovers begin staking out blanket space hours before the film rolls. West Hartford tried the idea in 2005 with The Incredibles on the lawn of the Faxon branch library.

Drive-in theaters have largely vanished from the American landscape. For most kids today, a summer movie on the grass is the closest they'll come to that experience. Like weekly farmers' markets, outdoor movies tap something vaguely nostalgic -- an old-world idea that still works, projected on a patch of grass.