IN the company of Dubai, China and the United States is the little unassuming town of Three Springs, which now has the 15th largest outdoor movie screen in the world.
In true Three Springs style, the movie screen is a projection onto the town's wheat silos.
The town celebrated the achievement on the weekend with its Silo Projections Opening Night, where the highest-grossing movie of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick was shown.
Three Springs invited families and their picnic rugs not just for the evening - but for the entire night - by setting up free camping on the town oval for families that wished to stay.
The projection was a part of the Three Springs Shire tourism plan, to lure more people into the town and surrounding communities.
Three Springs shire president Chris Lane said the night was a massive success and she was excited to see so many people come together for the event.
More than 300 people attended, including 25 caravan/campers travelling from a wide-range of places - from Mandurah to Chapman Valley.
"The weather was just perfect and we couldn't have had a better movie - and Top Gun: Maverick was just made to be on the big screen," Ms Lane said.
People who attended included CBH Group deputy chairwoman Natalie Browning, Labor Agricultural Region MLC Sandra Carr and Arts, Local Government, and Heritage Minister David Templeman.
Ms Lane was excited to be in the league with lots of bigger cities with their projection.
"We're punching above our weight here in little downtown Three Springs in Mid West, Western Australia, to be competing against much more populated cities around the world," Ms Lane said.
"The CBH silos were built in 1961 and I bet they never thought they would be hosting Hollywood movies."
Ms Lane said the Shire originally looked at joining the ever-growing silo art trail, but said it was too expensive.
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Thanks to a LotteryWest grant, the Shire purchased state-of-the-art technology that had the capacity to project onto the massive screen.
"So we decided to project images onto the silos with the approval of CBH, which have been fantastic," Ms Lane said.
At their community Christmas event they did a trial run of the projection system, showing The Grinch on the big screen, which Ms Lane said worked well.
They have since decided to open it up to the public, and Saturday's event included an agricultural machinery display, face-painting, food vans and live music.
Ms Lane hoped by encouraging camping, families might spend the weekend exploring the area.
"We're aiming for people to come up and do a tour around in the daytime, stay for the night, do a bit more touring around the next day, maybe stay for another night just because you can and then wander on home," she said.
"I'm hoping that the other Shires will piggyback on our product and have other options for people to come up and make it a weekend with something at a neighbouring local government - and then come watch a movie at night here."
Ms Lane was hopeful this would become a recurring event in Three Springs in the coming years, and the Shire had big plans for projections during wildflower season.
"We have such a bustling, busy wildflower season, we're planning on running shorter documentaries on the silos and short, archival movies of life in Western Australia or the history of the district," she said.
Ms Lane said it wasn't just about tourism, it was also about bringing local communities together.
She believed the silos had the potential to unite communities and showcase the beauty and unique features of the region to the rest of the world.
Jasmine Peart
Jasmine is a earnest listener and a passionate advocate for justice. She feels privileged to be trusted by farmers across Western Australia to tell their truth.
Jasmine is a earnest listener and a passionate advocate for justice. She feels privileged to be trusted by farmers across Western Australia to tell their truth.
