Movie Night: The 'Coolest Thing Happening in New England'

At 4 p.m. some black clouds rolled across Main Street and christened the sacred ground that was about to be transformed into an open air dinner theater with some light rain.

By 5 p.m. Chris Malloy, of Community Events, was checking the sound and waiting for the wind to die down enough to hoist the mega movie screen.

By 6 p.m. Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Williams was checking things off his to-do list, which included greeting the police detail, coordinating with Stella Blu wait staff and prepping his summer interns.

And by 7 p.m. on June 12 the crowd was checking in and taking their seats, ready for an open-air screening of "Sex and the City," with a side order of fine dining.

"We're building off of last year's success – we've expanded from six movies to eight this season, and we've added Unum's to the restaurant rotation," said Williams. 

Each movie night is "hosted" by one of three downtown eateries – Stella Blu, Villa Banca and Unum's, which all are conveniently located on East Pearl Street, which makes closing traffic between Spring and Main Street no problem

Malloy is the technical brains behind the big screen operation – his company's speciality is launching bigger than life outdoor movie experiences and other wow-factor events.

Maximum seating for each night of the series is 200, said Williams, and he's confident that once the summer officially arrives and the weather cooperates, there will be no trouble selling out seats.

Williams and Malloy came up with the idea one night while puffing cigars and sipping Scotch on Castro Backroom rooftop lounge.

"We spend a lot of time on the roof brainstorming ideas, and this one germinated at Castro's, like many of our best ideas do," Williams said. "We're the only city we know of in the entire northeast that does this with dinner and a movie. It's something that adds to the vibrancy of Nashua's downtown, and it's a win-win."

It was a little bit of kismet that Wednesday's Dinner & Movie night featuring a decidedly chick-oriented flick coincided with game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. 

Williams said with the he's hoping the Bruins can wrap up the win before a seventh game is necessary.

"We knew there was a possibility that tonight's movie would conflict with the Bruins, so "Sex and the City" was a safe bet for a ladies night out. If it comes down to a game 7, I'm not sure how many guys will opt for a movie over the game," Williams said.

Click here for the schedule of upcoming Dinner & Movie nights.