Fans of The Shawshank Redemption, the highest-rated film of all time on IMDb.com, will have the chance to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their favorite movie with a birthday party Aug. 8-11 at the filming location in north-central Ohio where the movie was shot.
The celebration will include many of the actors who appeared in the film, including Bob Gunton (Warden Norton), William Sadler (Heywood) and Gil Bellows (Tommy Williams).
When The Shawshank Redemption was released in 1994, few could have predicted how beloved the movie would become over the years, but its themes of perseverance, friendship and redemption seem to have resonated with audiences, as do the performances from stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, and a stellar supporting cast.
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Many of the memorable and eerie locations in which the film was shot are in and around Mansfield, which also plays a major role in the film’s enduring popularity.
Today, several of those filming locations are destinations along the Shawshank Trail, which includes 15 stops, most of which will be instantly recognizable to film fans.
Locations for the Shawshank 30th anniversary special event include Pew Cabin at Malabar Farm State Park, where main character Andy Dufresne mused about his wife’s infidelity in his car; the Wyandotte County Courthouse in Upper Sandusky, where Dufresne received his life sentence; and the historic Ohio State Correctional Facility in Mansfield, which is the most popular stop on the Shawshank Trail and features a replica of Shawshank State Prison, where most of the movie was set.
After the actual juvenile detention center closed in 1990, its magnificent Victorian Gothic architecture served as the ideal fictional setting for several blockbuster films, including The Shawshank Redemption.
Today, the former juvenile detention center attracts thousands of visitors each year, including movie buffs, history and architecture enthusiasts, as well as ghost hunters and paranormal investigators, due to the site’s notorious hauntings.
The site is home to the Ohio Corrections History Museum, which displays historical items such as “Old Sparky,” the electric chair where 315 people were executed, and the Shawshank Museum, which displays props, costumes, and other memorabilia from the film.
Visitors can take self- or guided tours with several different themes, and the rehabilitation facility will also be hosting a commemorative bus tour that will take in most of the sites on the Shawshank Trail on August 8 and 9. (The bus tour won’t visit Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the trail’s final and only stop outside Ohio, but that’s probably a good thing.)
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The celebration will kick off on August 8 at the historic Renaissance Theatre in downtown Mansfield. The Renaissance Theatre is located on the Shawshank Trail and is where the film premiered in 1994. At dusk, an outdoor drive-in screening will be held in the theatre’s backyard. The theatre will also host special indoor reserved-seat screenings on August 9 and 10.
The theater will also host a cast and crew discussion with director Frank Darabont, hosted by Turner Classic Movies’ Ben Mankiewicz, on August 9.
Cast and crew members from “The Shawshank Redemption” will also be appearing at other events during the anniversary, including panel discussions at Theatre 166 in Mansfield on Aug. 10 and 11. The panels will include a question-and-answer session with background actors who played Shawshank’s prisoners and townsfolk, as well as a “Behind the Scenes and Beyond” panel discussion with the film’s locations manager, Kokai Ampa, who will discuss how and why Mansfield and surrounding locations became iconic filming locations.
Many events are free, but some have an admission fee. Some events are ticketed and may sell out in advance, so register early. For a complete list of Shawshank 30th Anniversary events, or to purchase tickets for ticketed events, visit shawshanktrail.com/event-schedule.
Steve Stevens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. sjstephensjr@gmail.com.
