Summer vacation is coming to a close and for one last hooray, the Leadership Vicksburg class is sponsoring a free Downtown Movie Night event.

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” will be screened at 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 27, in front of the Old Depot Museum and if you bring a canned food item, you will receive a free popcorn, 2018 Leadership Vicksburg class member Sarah McMillin said.

All canned goods will go to the United Way of West Central Mississippi and distributed to their participating organizations.

Sponsored by the Vicksburg Chamber of Commerce, the Leadership Vicksburg class is comprised of a group of people who participate in nearly a yearlong training process that includes learning about local economics, governmental processes and businesses.

And at the culmination of the program, McMillan said the group is tasked in coming up with a community wide project and a movie night is what this year’s group decided to offer.

“We had tossed around a lot of different ideas, and since we are coming to the end of summer we wanted to do something that benefits not only the community, but would also be fun,” McMillin said. “So we thought a movie would give people an opportunity to visit with one another as one of their last summer events. And being in the historical old downtown we thought this would be a cool family friendly event. Other communities have done this and it was very successful, so we thought it would be great idea.”

McMillin encouraged moviegoers to bring lawn chairs or towels for seating.

In addition to popcorn, food truck vendors will also be on hand at the event, and beginning at 7:15 p.m., a car show sponsored by the Vicksburg Car Cruisers will be held.

McMillin credited the city of Vicksburg for their support and said they have been instrumental in helping the Vicksburg Leadership class organize movie night.

The 2018 Vicksburg Leadership class is comprised of 15 members, McMillin said, and the group’s monthly programs revolved around Stephen R. Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

“Each week we would focus on one of the habits and there would be an instructor who led us through the course material,” she said.

Tours were also held and the first one was at Bowmar Elementary School. Bowmar incorporates the “Leader in Me” program at the school, which is based on Covey’s 7 habits, and the students showed the Leadership Vicksburg class how they implemented the different aspects of the program, McMillin said.

Other outings, she said, included tours of Chick-Fil-A, Anderson Tully, River City Early College, the Port of Vicksburg, Ergon and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.

McMillin said a graduation ceremony will be held in August for the group and then a new Leadership Vicksburg class will begin.

For more information about Leadership Vicksburg’s free Downtown Movie Night, visit their Facebook page.