MANSFIELD — The historic Ohio State Reformatory has created a Shawshank Forever fan club for one of the world’s most popular movies.
Following the successful 25th anniversary of The Shawshank Redemption, which used the prison in the bulk of its shots, executive director Paul Smith and OSR’s Shawshank specialist Tom Clark began working on creating a fan club.
The classic movie was filmed in 1994 and starred Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins — and a host of locals that served as extras.
The Shawshank Redemption is based on Stephen King’s short story, Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption.
“We had about 9,000 to 12,000 people coming to the August (2019) event,” Clark said. “After that we knew we we wanted to create a way for fans of the movie to stay connected.”
Memberships in the Shawshank Forever fan club include free admittance to self-guided tours, savings on items in the gift shop as well as being able to help refurbish the landmark prison.
“The fan club has taken off since it opened last Friday (Feb. 14),” Clark said. “It’s been fun for me to come up with exclusive content for them and it’s helped the fans connect with other fans.”
