City of Lethbridge gives a warm welcome to CBC
Nearly 2,400 people came out to celebrate the launch of CBC Lethbridge
Cheers and applause filled the Lethbridge Public Library last weekend to celebrate CBC's new, permanent bureau in Lethbridge.
"This is kind of a homecoming for me," said Lethbridge video journalist Ose Irete. "I'm really excited to be back in town and for the CBC to have a presence here."
Irete is the public broadcaster's new, full-time journalist in Lethbridge. He will file stories for radio, digital and television.
Lethbridge is pretty special to me.- Ose Irete, video journalist
He is no stranger to southern Alberta, completing his undergraduate degree in anthropology at the University of Lethbridge and spending the better part of a decade living in the city.
"Lethbridge is pretty special to me," said Irete.
"It's the first place I moved out to on my own. I came here as a university student when I was 17, graduated, stayed here for a few years and worked in town.
"Actually, fun fact. I filled out my application for my first CBC job at that window right there," said Irete, pointing to a nearby window at the library.
As part of the Lethbridge bureau launch, CBC hosted a two-day event in partnership with the Lethbridge Public Library.
"We're really excited to welcome CBC to Lethbridge with their bureau," said Terra Plato, CEO of the library, which was established in 1919.
"There's a lot of commonalities between libraries and CBC, and we think an addition to the local media landscape is a positive one for Lethbridge.
There's a lot of commonalties between libraries and CBC, and we think an addition to the local media landscape is a positive one for Lethbridge.- Terra Plato, CEO of the Lethbridge Public Library
"We want to see local voices highlighted and promoted — it's a big part of what we do at the library, helping people connect with what's happening in the community and, of course, local media is a really important part of that."
To kick off the events, hundreds of people filled the library to be part of the live audiences for Alberta@Noon and The Homestretch as they broadcast live from the library.
People began the afternoon expressing their love for Lethbridge and small-town living on Alberta@Noon as host Judy Aldous chatted with Lethbridge residents Maleeka Thomas, Francine Hunt and Steven Comm about why they moved to Lethbridge and the benefits of moving to a small city.
"I had never heard of Lethbridge before," said Maleeka Thomas, an immigrant from Jamaica who moved to Lethbridge in 2019 for school.
"What sold me to come here was the view of the coulees at night — I was like, 'I'm sold, this is where I want to be.' And the community was so welcoming. It was the only university that reached out to me and actually had a face-to-face conversation with me."
Some folks stayed while others joined in the excitement of spending the afternoon with Chris dela Torre and Jenny Howe from The Homestretch.
We played some Lethbridge trivia, heard Irete's first Lethbridge story about the oldest amateur theatre group in Canada and conversations from Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen, local musician Ryland Moranz and CEO of the Lethbridge Public Library Terra Plato.
To continue the Friday festivities, we headed to Good Times Lethbridge Comedy Club for a CBC "after dark" comedy show featuring comics from southern Alberta Faris Hytiaa, Spencer Streichert and Brittany Lyseng.
Calgary Eyeopener's Loren McGinnis also made a special guest appearance on-stage.
Between laughs, people enjoyed pizza and wings from Two Guys and a Pizza Place and entered to win prize packs including goodies from local businesses. Watch the highlight video below.
A lineup of CBC fans awaited the opening of the library doors Saturday morning in anticipation of the action-packed CBC Lethbridge launch party planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More than 160 parents and children joined our hosts for storytime sessions in the morning. Workshops such as medicine bag making with Elder Evelyn Kelman, a Japanese dance workshop by the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden and a Comics Jam session, where people could build a live comic with local illustrator Eric Dyck, took over another area of the library.
Interactive CBC stations such as hosting a mock newscast, pitching a story to Lethbridge journalist Irete, recording a station ID, listening to Lethbridge stories on giant headphones, making a CBC button and colouring CBC Kids characters kept people busy throughout the day.
While visiting stations, people worked on getting three in a row on bingo cards that they received upon entering the library to redeem custom CBC Lethbridge swag.
"The CBC kickoff event in Lethbridge was a really great introduction for our city to a long standing Canadian Institution," said Lethbridge mom and resident Vicki Todd.
"Our family loved the interactive displays and the opportunity to meet CBC personalities in person, as well as the invitation to offer suggestions of local news topics of interest. I appreciated the attention to our community's diverse art culture that was depicted with displays, and performances throughout the weekend."
Our local music stage, hosted by Daybreak Alberta's Paul Karchut, was the perfect way to cap off the day. Local musicians and singer songwriters The New Testaments, Starpainter and Shaela Miller got people up on their feet throughout the afternoon and shared their perspectives on the Lethbridge music scene and community.
"Everyone comes from a different story," said Joel Bhaskaran, band leader of The New Testaments. "And I think that's what adds to the soul music that we're trying to bring into the city."
Listen to the full segments below.
The response and welcome from Lethbridge was overwhelming, with nearly 2,300 people present at the library over the course of the two days CBC was on location. That's an increase of 69 per cent of visitors the library typically has during the months of October to January.
"CBC has always done an incredible job shining light on communities in Canada, and Lethbridge will certainly benefit from having our stories highlighted from this organization," said Todd. "Welcome to Lethbridge, CBC! We're happy you're here."
Many representatives and leaders from the province, city, businesses, education, tourism, Indigenous and overall community joined us over the two days to meet our reporters, radio hosts and staff to share with us what they love about their city and what we should report on.
What makes this place special is the people.- Ose Irete
In total, Irete received 110 story pitches from local residents.
"What makes this place special is the people," said Irete.
"There's so much diversity of activities, thoughts, different views, ethnicity and culture. So I'm hoping to take those stories and share them with the rest of the province and country. But then also cover things that are important to people here, like transportation, infrastructure, health care, education — the things that are really on people's minds."
As part of CBC's partnership with the Lethbridge Public Library, Irete will be working from the library once a week to connect in-person with communities.
Stay up to date with Lethbridge news at cbc.ca/lethbridge.
Talking with CBC Lethbridge
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