MU invited students and the general public to watch two free movies at Faurot Field this weekend while maintaining proper pandemic protocol.
According to MU’s Campus Activities Programming Board, who hosted the event, students were required to wear face masks and maintain six feet of distance between peers while watching the movies.
The sequel to the hit 2017 “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” film “Jumanji: The Next Level” played Friday, and the latest movie in the Star Wars epic space saga, “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” was shown Saturday. The doors opened at 6 p.m. and the movies started at 7 p.m. as the sun began to set.
Students’ IDs were swiped at the entrance of the stadium. Campus police were present to check bags and purses before entry.
Most students brought blankets, towels or yoga mats to spread out on, while others made their peace with the hard bleachers. Students were not allowed to sit on the omniturf field like in previous years.
Both movies were played on the large electronic screen right above the “M” that was freshly painted by freshmen, as per campus tradition. Audio from the movies bounced from endzone to endzone.
The finicky Missouri weather held out for both nights, although the second night was a bit hot and humid for viewers.
Flicks at Faurot was a taste of normalcy for many incoming students who have had to participate virtually in most campus traditions thus far.
Audra Young, a freshman international business major, said this was one of the first events she has participated in on campus.
“I haven’t really done anything on campus yet,” Young said. “I really like movies, and I thought it would be fun.”
Samantha Hole, a sophomore who is triple majoring in political science, economics and constitutional democracy, says she used Flicks at Faurot as a break from her courses and to stay safe.
“Even though I monitor my symptoms every day, and I’m not showing anything, my grandmother’s kind of old and we have a lot of young kids in my family that I would have visited over Labor Day, and I just didn’t feel like subjecting them to that risk with the pandemic,” Hole said. “So I decided to stay here.”
Both Hole and Young felt that Campus Activities Planning Board took proper precautions to keep everyone safe.
“There’s hand sanitizer, and everyone is spread out right now,” Young said.
CAPB students walked through the stands before the movie began with a six foot pole to ensure social distancing.Attendants were advised to put a few rows of bleachers between each group. Rules were to be strictly followed.
Students wore masks for the entire screening, with a few exceptions to take a quick sip of water or bite of popcorn.
“I feel really comfortable when everyone wears masks,” Hole said. “This is a huge arena. I’ve been here when it was packed full for football games —it holds so many people— so I felt like this was honestly a really great idea from the Campus Activity Programming Board,” Hole said. “It gives people the opportunity to do something here over Labor Day.”
_Edited by Lucy Caile|lcaile@themaneater.com_