When you organize a community movie night at your local park, there are countless items that you will need to check off of your event's to-do list. Finding volunteers to direct traffic, hiring vendors to come and bring yummy snacks, creating advertisements about the event, and selecting a movie to show are all important parts of this fun community event.

As you work to plan a community event that can potentially host up to a thousand people, it can be difficult to worry about the minute details of something that takes place on such a large scale. One of the most important details of any large community event that often gets overlooked is a way to direct the flow of people. Although you can plan every detail of an event over and over multiple times, you cannot plan for every move that every single attendee will make while they are participating in your event. Directing people during an event can feel like an overwhelming task to take on, but it can be easily tackled with one type of event equipment: retractable stanchions. 

What are Retractable Stanchions Used For?

Retractable stanchions are a simple crowd-control solution for large community events. This type of event equipment is used to direct human traffic in order to create smooth transitions between areas of an event, while simultaneously keeping people away from forbidden or closed areas. When you are setting up for this exciting movie night, consider utilizing a few retractable stanchions or retractable belt stanchions to ensure that people will stay within appropriate areas of the park. For example, retractable stanchions are often used to close off employee areas or restrict people from entering an area that is reserved for vendors. If no signs are in place, there is a chance that people will lose focus on the community movie event and poke around in reserved areas instead.

Other Uses for Retractable Stanchions

Retractable stanchions can also be used to show people where to walk after the community movie event has ended. Oftentimes, people will all get up at once and head in the same direction, which can cause the large group to slow down and block the ability of other people to move away from the event. Near the end of the movie event, it may be useful to have a few volunteers create some exit routes that can direct participants to the nearest sidewalks or parking lots.

No matter what movie you show at your community event, ensure that you have a few retractable stanchions in order to direct the flow of people and your event will be a success.