From grandparents to college students to young children, people from Ames and the surrounding area filled the field of Jack Trice Stadium and spilled over into the stands and hillsides to watch Disney’s “Frozen” on the video scoreboard May 17.

As the football field filled with families laying out blankets to sit on, music from classic Disney movies played through the stadium’s speakers. Kids played with nerf footballs and stood in line to take a picture with Cy, Iowa State’s mascot.

“This is what it’s all about,” said Beth Handlos, administrative specialist from the ISU athletics marketing department. “It makes you love your job.”

The Jr. Cyclones Club sponsored the movie night. Handlos said parents from the Jr. Cyclones Club got to vote on which movie was going to be shown, and “Frozen” won by a landslide. She said it was a great evening to get to reach out to the community.

The event, in its second year, was free to the public. Last year, “Wreck it Ralph” was played. Handlos said as many as 15,000 people came to the movie night May 17, up from an estimated 4,000 last year.

Jesse Evans kept it secret from his two children until the day of the event after finding out about it on Facebook.

“They were shocked, speechless and then they jumped up and down.” Evans said.

Handlos said the athletic department is very family-oriented and has gotten a huge response from the movie night at Jack Trice. It is nice to be able to organize community events that aren’t specifically tied to sports but can introduce people in the community to Iowa State, Handlos said.

“You don’t have to be a Cyclone to have fun,” Handlos said. She said it’s nice to be able to have community members get on the field because only a select few get a field pass for football games.

Alex Peters, senior in aerospace engineering, came with a group of friends from Iowa State’s martial arts club, who made the decision to go at one of its meetings. He said he decided to attend because “Frozen” is a good movie and the weather was nice.

“It’s such a beautiful day that it would have been a disappointment not to go outside,” Peters said.

When Pam Jones first asked her kids if they wanted to go, they weren’t very interested. When she told them they would get to be on the ISU football field, however, they immediately said yes.

Handlos said she loved when the children in the crowd began to sing along when the Grammy winning song “Let it Go” played during the film.

Kids started playing catch again as people began to leave the stadium after the movie was over.

Joy Hauge said the nice weather was a factor in coming to the “free and fun” event. Her nieces came from Clear Lake, Iowa, to see the movie as well.

“There was not a bad seat in the house,” Hauge said. “It was a perfect evening.”