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Payson theater to show ‘Footloose’ coinciding with Kevin Bacon return; proceeds to charity

By Carlene Coombs - | Apr 17, 2024

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

Payson High School students hold up Kevin Bacon cutouts during school assembly Friday, March 22, 2024, to encourage Bacon to come to prom.

As Payson prepares to welcome “Footloose” actor Kevin Bacon, Stadium Cinemas will be showing the film for $1, with proceeds being donated to Bacon’s charity, Six Degrees.

Bacon will be making his return to Payson on Saturday after a two-year campaign from students seeking to get the actor to visit Payson High School, where part of the movie was filmed. That high school is set to be demolished as students move to a newly built building.

Tickets are already on sale, with the theater setting aside showtimes for seven days, starting Friday and running through April 25.

Theater owner Kris Phillps said tickets have been selling fast and they’ll be showing the movie in their large auditorium that seats over 100 people.

As of Tuesday, the theater has scheduled 24 showtimes throughout the seven days “Footloose” will be back, with a majority being on Friday and Saturday.

Phillps said the idea started about a month ago when Mayor Bill Wright called her and asked if they could get “Footloose” back in the theater.

“That’s kind of where it started is just the mayor reaching out and talking about different ideas and we thought, well, if we can help, we will,” she said.

Phillps said they are also partnering with the local Chubby’s restaurant for customers to get a discount if they have a “Footloose” ticket, with Chubby’s also donating $1 to Six Degrees for each purchase.

While high school students were doing their social media campaign trying to get Bacon to come to Payson, Phillps said they came to the theater a couple of times to take pictures with a cardboard cutout of the actor.

“It’s kind of fun what he (Bacon) has started and everybody just stepping up to help the kids from the Payson High to achieve their goal of getting him here. So that’s kind of cool,” she said.

A couple of other businesses in Payson are getting involved with raising money for Bacon’s charity.

Stella’s Crepes is donating a portion of the profits from purchases of their BLT and turkey club crepe, and last week, the Fellas Barber Shop held a charity event with Chubby’s to raise money for Six Degrees.

The Utah Film Commission also is encouraging donations by entering those who donate $25 or more into a contest for a meet-and-greet with Bacon.

While Bacon won’t be attending Payson High’s prom on Saturday evening, he will be in town the same day to pack resource kits with the community. The event will begin at 10 a.m. at the high school football field, with organizers aiming to build 5,000 resource kits.

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