This has been a challenging year for the Cinema in the Park series. In the past, funding for… This has been a challenging year for the Cinema in the Park series. In the past, funding for the program has come from city tax dollars, but the budget impasse reached on December 31, 2003, threatened to eliminate certain city park programs. Fortunately, Comcast came to Cinema in the Park’s rescue. Since then, Comcast has become the major contributor for funding this summer’s continuation of a Pittsburgh tradition, renamed “Citiparks Comcast Cinema in the Parks.” The series, according to Michael Radley, Assistant Director of City Parks, “will continue to provide a fun and unique experience for families and the Pittsburgh community.”

The 2004 Citiparks movie locations include Schenley Park, Riverview Park, Grandview Park in Mount Washington, Robert E. Williams Memorial Park and Arsenal Park in Lawrenceville. The program will run from June 9 to Aug. 28. With the goal of providing free entertainment for the whole family, the series will offer a wide range of classic and current movie favorites. Featured on this summer’s schedule are “Finding Nemo,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “Star Trek: Nemesis.”

In a recent interview, Radley encouraged “everyone to attend at least one of our programs and to keep supporting us, because when people pull together, things happen.”

So grab a blanket, pick up a pizza, and head out for what the Pittsburgh Parks and Recreation Department correctly advertises as “an unforgettable evening of cinema under the stars.”