Business brings movie screens to your birthday party

Thomas Walls, the owner, tells me that he started showing movies in the backyard for neighborhood kids and parents. He loved going to drive-in movies as a kid and tried to recreate them for people who never had a chance to go to one, he says.

People always suggested he do it as a side job since he loves it so much. So he started doing other events around the community. That's when the town of Garner called last year to provide equipment for some American Idol viewing parties as the town cheered on native and eventual winner Scotty McCreery.

The show started small with about 25 people showing up at first. Eventually, he was setting up equipment so more than 2,000 people could watch McCreery perform. Those large viewings led to other big shows.

Walls tells me, while he's happy to work corporate events and large community gatherings, he really loves setting up backyard movies.

"I really prefer doing the backyard movies for smaller groups, especially the kids because of the looks I get when I blow up the screen and turn on the sound," he wrote me.