FERRIDAY — Taking your children out for popcorn and a movie can wind up costing you an arm and a leg, but the Town of Ferriday is working to ease those costs this summer.

The Delta Music Museum will be offering a free movie screening, popcorn and beverage every Wednesday through July to any children in the Miss-Lou who find themselves with little to do during the break from school.

“We are just trying to give parents and their kids something to do,” Delta Music Museum Director Judith Bingham said.

The museum showed their first movie of the year at the Arcade Theater Wednesday, and Bingham said the theater will be open at 1 p.m. every Wednesday for any child wanting to help pass the summer hours in a fun, friendly atmosphere.

“The only requirement is that an adult be with the child that comes,” she said.

Bingham said there will even be an intermission during the movie where a guest speaker will come up to talk to the children about civic and community services or extracurricular activities not normally available to them.

“There are a lot of reasons people should come out,” she said.

Bingham said this is the third year the museum has offered the free movies to area children, and it has been a success during the past two years.

“When we started the theater was fairly new,” she said. “Because of that, we thought it would be a good idea to have some activities to offer the area, and we came up with the free movie idea for the children.”

Bingham said the museum originally offered two movie days a week, one for the older children and one for the younger children, but the times interfered with programs at the Concordia Parish Library, so they consolidated the movie days into one showing per week.

“The hardest part now is to get movies that will entertain all ages,” she said. “Even with that, the movies are always fun for everyone.”

Bingham said she hopes to have the Arcade Theater full of children next Wednesday lining up to enjoy the free fun in Ferriday.

“Popcorn, movies and a drink all for free,” she said. “The only way to beat this is to have the movies coming out in theaters playing here.”