“A movie night!” I announced, spreading my arms wide like I was revealing the greatest invention since sliced bread. “We host our own movie night in the park. Families bring blankets, we charge for tickets, and everyone buys snacks from my stand!”
Piper’s eyes lit up.
“Think about it. The tournament brought tons of people to one place. What if I could create my own event that brings people to me?”
Reese was nodding enthusiastically. “And everyone always wants snacks during movies. My family goes through like three bags of popcorn when we watch something at home.”
“Plus,” I continued, getting more excited as I talked, “I could charge admission too. Like four dollars per person or something. It’s way cheaper than the movie theater, and families would love doing something outdoors together.”
The three of us spent the next hour planning every detail. What movie to show, how to set up seating areas, what time to start. By the time my friends left, I was practically vibrating with excitement.
The next morning, I cornered Mom in the kitchen while she was eating breakfast.
“Mom, I have an idea,” I said, trying to sound calm and professional, instead of like someone who’d been up since five AM thinking things through.
She looked up from her newspaper. “Should I be worried?”
“I want to host a movie night in the park. Charge admission, sell snacks, make it a whole event.”
Mom set down her glass, considering. “That’s… actually not a terrible idea. You’d need a projector, though.”
“Could I use ours?” I asked hopefully.
“I suppose so. But you’d need permission from the city first. Let’s not make that mistake again.”
My heart sank a little. More permits. More bureaucracy. More Mr. Chen and his two-finger typing.
“But,” Mom continued, “if you can get the proper approvals, I think it sounds like a great entrepreneurial project.”
An hour later, I was back at city hall. The receptionist actually smiled and waved when she saw me walk in.
“Back again, Kiora? You’re becoming quite the regular here.”
I smiled and kept walking to the office on the right.
“I need to ask about hosting a movie night in Riverside Park,” I said, approaching Mr. Chen’s desk.
He looked up from his computer like I’d just asked him to teach a cat to do algebra. “A movie night? In the park? Well, that would require an Event Permit.”
Forty-five minutes and twenty-three dollars in fees later, I walked out with temporary approval for “Four outdoor movie screening events between now and the end of summer. One each week.”
The rest of the day was a blur of activity. Piper, Reese, and I spent the afternoon making posters with bright markers and construction paper:
MOVIE NIGHT IN THE PARK!
This Friday at Dusk
Bring a Blanket!
Admission: $4 per person
Snacks Available for purchase!
– The snack girl
We hung them up around the neighborhood, at the community center, and got permission to put one in the window of Peterson’s Market.
Between poster-making and permit-getting, I still managed to set up my snack stand for a few hours. Sales were steady but nothing spectacular. I sold six candy bars, ten sodas, five bags of chips, and nine water bottles. Twenty-four dollars and fifty cents. Not bad for a distracted day.
That evening, as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, I couldn’t stop thinking about tomorrow night. What if nobody came? What if the projector didn’t work? What if it rained?
But then I remembered the excitement in Piper’s and Reese’s voices, the way the receptionist had smiled when she called me a “regular,” and the stack of colorful posters we’d hung around town.
Tomorrow night was going to be amazing. I could feel it!