Kevin Bacon Returns to “Footloose” High School to Celebrate 40th Anniversary of the Hit Film

"Things look a little different around here. I’d say the thing that looks the most different is me," the actor joked during his visit to the filming location

Kevin Bacon is cutting loose — Footloose, that is!

The actor, 65, returned to Payson High School, the Utah location where his iconic 1984 movie was filmed, on Saturday, April 20, to celebrate the educational institution's final prom before the school is demolished and moved to a different location.

During his visit, Bacon sat in a director’s chair emblazoned “Mr. Bacon,” toured the high school where he filmed his breakout role, posed for selfies and signed shirts and memorabilia.

Noting how it is the 40th anniversary since Footloose was released, Bacon told those in attendance at the event, “It’s been 40 years. I mean, that just blows my mind. Things look a little different around here. I’d say the thing that looks the most different is me.”

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Related: Footloose Is 40! Lori Singer Recalls 'Natural' Chemistry with Kevin Bacon: 'It Was Electric' (Exclusive)

Payson High School students tried to get Bacon to stop by in celebration of Footloose's milestone anniversary by performing flash mobs after school and launching a social media campaign, #BaconToPayson.

Last month, the Today show then came to the school and shared a video with students, in which Bacon revealed he was impressed by their campaign and announced, “I’m going to come, I gotta come."

Standing before the Payson community over the weekend, Bacon said, "When I first heard about this #BaconToPayson thing, I thought, 'Wow, this is crazy.' But you were all tireless, unrelenting in your desire to have me return, and you talked me into it. I think it’s great to see that kind of commitment to anything."

“I also think it’s amazing the power this movie has had to bring people together and connect on the basic ideas that are behind the movie of standing up to authority sometimes, and to being forgiving of people who are not exactly the same as you, and for standing up for your own freedoms and your right to express yourself, and for having compassion for other people,” he added.

Speaking with PEOPLE, junior Jake Steele explained, "This is everything. Everybody in the school knows that it’s the Footloose school, and everybody in Payson knows that we are Footloose Payson."

"Everything and anything this year has been Kevin Bacon and Footloose. I’ve been practicing my Footloose [dance] to get it down [for prom]," he added.

Resident Kelli Davis said she brought her 10-year-old daughter to sit in the stands and celebrate with Bacon. “Footloose is nostalgic for me,” she stated. “I’ve been watching it my whole life.”

Payson Principal Jesse Sorenson noted that when the building is torn down and the high school is moved to a new spot that is currently under construction, Bacon’s locker from the film will be memorialized in the Hall of Fame “for his influence on the school’s dance policy."

Related: Kevin Bacon Is Our Forever Prom Heartthrob: 15 Photos from 'Footloose' to Take You Back to the '80s!

During his time with the greater Payson community to celebrate Footloose, Bacon was joined by his initiative SixDegrees.org to assemble and distribute 5,000 "Essential Resource Kits" to young people in need of resources throughout Utah, Colorado and Nevada.

More than 1,000 volunteers came to the Payson High football field on April 20, according to a press release, and together they facilitated more than $865,000 worth of product distribution, totaling 121,900 items.

Four Utah-based nonprofit organizations were chosen as beneficiaries: Encircle, Centro De La Familia, Spy Hop and Food and Care Coalition. They each received 1,250 essential care kits and three months of free counseling, the release said.

“It was so worth the trip,” Bacon said of the event, before he gave a send-off to the high schoolers attending the night’s prom, stating: "Be good to each other — and don’t forget to cut loose."

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