Tonight You Can Visit Jurassic Park in the Columbia River Gorge

Expect a crowd, on the hottest night of the year.

View of Columbia River Gorge by Rooster Rock in Oregon on the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. (U.S. Forest Service)
By Ekansh Gupta

Unless you spent the past two decades under a rock, you’ve seen Jurassic Park—Steven Spielberg’s cinematic roller-coaster ride with velociraptors—and probably sat through a couple of its sequels.

But watching it in a primordial forest on the hottest night of the year? That’s a different beast.

This Saturday, June 25, Jurassic Park screens outdoors at Rooster Rock State Park in the Columbia River Gorge. The 1993 movie kicks off a series of repertory screenings presented by the Hollywood Theatre in Oregon state parks.

Expect a crowd. With lockdown restrictions lifted, the Oregon Parks Department is lifting the pre-registration requirements that existed in the summers of 2016-19, meaning that this year, visitors can simply show up.

Similar showings will happen across the state on Saturday nights throughout the summer. Mars Attacks screens July 9 at L.L. “Stub” Stewart State Park. Two weeks later, Back to the Future II screens July 23 at Milo McIver State Park. Finally, Encanto screens Aug. 6 at Champoeg State Heritage Area. All screenings start at 9 pm.

The Hollywood Theatre partnered with the Oregon Parks Department for outdoor screenings in 2016. “This series encourages Oregonians to explore the amazing recreational amenities our parks have to offer,” the nonprofit cinema wrote in a statement.

But Rooster Rock is just a 15-minute drive from Portland’s eastern city limits, making it the closest screening to this city—on what promises to be the hottest night of the year.

Visitors to Jurassic Park may bring food and drink so long as they follow park rules, with a showing at 9 pm. They can also bring pets. We do not recommend bringing a goat.

Correction: This post incorrectly stated that Jurassic Park would screen at 9 pm and midnight. It screens just once, at 9 pm. WW regrets the error.

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