There will be no movies at the Band Shell in Onset this summer, due to a shortage of volunteers and exhausted organizers.

The summer staple, put on by the not-for-profit Onset Bay Movie Company, has been running non-stop for more than 15 years.

But with young families and busy jobs and fewer volunteers stepping up to help, Onset Bay Movie Company co-founders Christian Fernandes and Jim Potter made the tough decision to call off the movies for this year.

The team reached out to the community earlier this year in hopes of finding volunteers. Fernandes appeared before the Selectmen and appealed to the fans of the not-for-profit's Facebook page, but didn't receive much of a response.

Fernandes said that both he and Potter hope that the break will be just that -- a brief hiatus.

"We're at the point now where we feel responsible for it. We don't want to let it fall," Fernandes said of the program.

Fernandes and Potter, who grew up together in Onset, were inspired to start the Onset Bay Movie Company after they learned that a former resident had screened movies for the community decades before.

The movies were screened in the town's Multi-Service Center for the first year, before being moved to a big screen at the Onset Band Shell -- which soon attracted hundreds of people for the family-friendly, free-of-charge movies and inexpensive popcorn and drinks.

It's been tough to find and keep volunteers over the years, Fernandes said. At the beginning, the team's high-school-aged peers stepped up to help, but then got busy with college, etc.

In subsequent years, "it stopped being lots of people who could help us," Fernandes explained, and instead the team relied on family members "who felt they needed to help us."

Movie night itself can be run with three to four people, but more volunteers are needed to help with advertising, signage, and other behind-the-scenes needs, such as maintenance of equipment.

"We always thought we were doing the town a service. It was all about the service and the fun -- and it was fun," Fernandes said. "We just want to do more. We don't want to see it go away."

Planning for next year's movies will begin in January, 2014. If you'd like to volunteer, contact Christian Fernandes at 508-273-6274 or medialair1002@aol.com, or Jim Potter at onsetjp@juno.com.