About 20 Friends members, Mirror Lake Assoc. members, park staff and DNR employees attended a fun filled evening to celebrate the opening night of the Public Enemies movie. The first activity was a ride on the Friends pontoon boat to see the area where some of the lakeside filming took place. Dave Primus was our knowledgeable tour guide and boat captain. He took us up to the ravine where he explained how the set was built to make it easier for the actors to run. During the film week he took the set builders via pontoon boat across the lake to gather many bags of pine needles to cover the wooden platform.  Next, we went past Echo Rock and Dave explained about the 40 foot tall trees that were brought in and “planted” for that scene. Lastly, we went past the cliffside Hags Crag cottage. The cottage only showed for a few seconds in the final movie. It was very interesting to hear of the details that go into the making of a film set.

After our pontoon tour we climbed the many steps leading up to Ishnala Restaurant. There we had a wonderful dinner of a wide variety of appetizers. Thanks to Becky, Kathy and Jan for picking out the menu, Kathy for cashiering and Becky for coordinating the event. We have a really great group people and it is nice to have time to mingle and get to know each other better. Part way through the meal a local public enemy, Waldo Dillinger (aka Waldo Peterson), burst into the room and held us up with his tommy gun. We all had a good laugh from that, but I’m not sure how the restaurant patrons took it. They must have thought Waldo Dillinger was a bit scary. It was all in good fun and everyone left with their money.

With great anticipation we drove on to the Desert Star Theatre for the premier showing of Public Enemies. The movie was action packed and we did recognize Mirror Lake areas in the film. Especially exciting were the car crash scenes filmed on Fern Dell Road. But then again, we are a little partial to our park scenes in the movie.