Movies: Timber Days

Get ready for something a little different this summer. As night falls on the Timber Days events in Shelton, get cozy, grab some snacks (and free popcorn), and celebrate community with free classic movies under the stars. The movies kick of Friday, June 4, 9 :00 PM with romance, excitement, heroes, villains – and a whole lot of forest – with two classic movies. Saturday, June 5, enjoy the cult classic royalty tale – The Princess Bride.

Generational Mason County residents will want to catch a showing of the locally filmed Ring of Fire – if just to see a familiar sight or family member! To launch our movie nights, the Evergreen Square Cantina Stage will host this 1961 Metrocolor drama.

Ring of Fire (1961)

This thriller features music from the twangy rock’n’roll veteran Duane Eddy (of “Forty Miles of Bad Road” fame) and the acting of David Janssen (The Fugitive), Howard Hughe’s starlet Joyce Taylor and Frank Gorshin (Riddler, in the original Batman). Although the storyline of three rebels with no apparent cause, a police officer kidnapping, and even the police officer uniforms (and few of the officers themselves) sourced from Shelton and the surrounding area. The director/ producer Andrew L. Stone was famous for a high degree of realism in his shooting, not only did he splice in real forest fire footage, but an actual mill in Oregon was burnt for the production, the US Army was used to shoot flamethrowers for some of the scenes and an actual wooden trestle bridge over the Wynoochee River was destroyed by fire in the final scenes.

Additionally, a 1924 Locomotive and two ex-Southern Pacific coaches were burnt on the Wynoochee Trestle which plummeted into the gorge below amidst well timed dynamite charges. The train and coaches are still laying in the canyon to this day and are an extreme geocache collector destination.

The Big Trees (1952)

Tollie Stage hosts the 1952 Western, The Big Trees. Starring Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller, and Edgar Buchanan. Although this film is most famous for the scandal associated with its production – that Kirk Douglas agreed to make this film for free to get released from his contract with Warner Brother’s – there are still some dramatic takeaways of the sweeping storyline of greedy lumber barons, Quaker settlers, and big v trees. A definite timber classic.

The Princess Bride will be shown at 9 PM, Saturday June 5 at the Tollie Stage.

The Princess Bride (1987)

Saturday night will be a family friendly favorite flick especially for the princesses and swash-buckling adventurers. Rob Reiner’s 1987 The Princess Bride will be shown at 9 PM, Saturday June 5 at the Tollie Stage. Yelling lines at the screen are welcome and expected (“My name is Iñigo Montoya, you killed my father prepare to die!”or of course “INCONCEIVABLE!”) since this masterwork is famous for its quirky, snappy lines as pirates, giants, royalty, mercenaries, fireswamps, and revenge are played out in the ultimate story of true love. Bring your own lawn chairs and blankets but leave your iocaine powder at home. We will make sure no R.O.U.S visits.

Spirit Untamed (2021)

Prefer the in-house theater experience? Shelton Cinema has donated a matinee showing of the Dreamworks Pictures premier of Spirit Untamed to the Mason County Forest Festival Timber Days series. The sequel to the box office hit, Spirit, this movie is an epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse - Spirit.

Tickets are just $5/person and available online at masoncountyforestfestival.com. But hurry, although the Shelton Cinema has opened up both theaters to Festival supporters, with current COVID requirements, space is limited. Spirit Untamed premiers June 4 at 3:00 PM.

Timber Days movie events continue in July with a special forestry commemorative showing at the Skyline Drive-In. On July 29, Forest Festival will be taking over the big screen with a short commemorating 77 years of Mason County Forest Festival. The presentation will be followed by classic 1944 forestry feature films that herald a climate that brought us the advent of Forest Festivals and fire prevention campaigns all over America.

As the war effort increased the need for lumber and servicemen who would typically be in the homeland fighting fires fought wars in foreign land, all over the county there were efforts to raise awareness of the importance of our forestry industry. Smokey the Bear and feature films like Timber Queen (1944) and The Lumberjack (1944) marked the beginning of an era that also gave rise to Mason County's beloved Forest Festival.

At the time of this publishing, huge thanks goes out to businesses who have made the free movies possible at Timber Days. Thank you Williams Architecture, Bowman Financial, Karen Schade, Edward Jones Advisor and FM 101.9 Boomer Rock and Roll.

Visit masoncountyforeatfestival.com for a full list of this summer's Timber Days classic film offerings – and pass the popcorn!