By MorinvilleNews.com Staff
Morinville – Edmonton’s 630CHED will be rolling into town as the sun comes up Thursday morning to broadcast live from the Community Cultural Centre. The popular AM station will be conducting four interviews during their morning slot and five in the afternoon, all with locals, and all in conjunction with the community, its history and the town’s St. Jean Baptiste Festival.
Morinville was selected as a broadcast location in CHED’s Hometown Tour contest after Councillor Lisa Holmes noticed an ad for the contest and entered Morinville in it. “It was right at the time where Morinville had been in a lot of media articles talking about our challenges and I thought this would be a great opportunity to highlight our strengths,” Holmes said, noting she wrote a short essay about the community, their centennial celebrations and upcoming St. Jean Baptiste festival. “When CHED called to let me know that my entry was selected, I was very excited to share this with everyone.”
Holmes said the CHED event is a great chance to show off the community to the rest of the Capital Region and also for Morinville residents to come together to share in a day full of activities. Those activities will include a pancake breakfast and barbecue.
But whether listening in by radio or dropping by to see what’s happening, the cast of interviewees will be the same. St. Jean Baptiste Festival Chair Ron Cust will get the ball rolling at 6:45 a.m., followed by councillor Holmes at 7:35 a.m. Mayor Lloyd Bertschi will be on air ten minutes later, followed by Tammy Frieze at 8:45 to talk about the upcoming Noah’s Ark Hamster Races.
Thursday afternoon’s local on air personalities will include Community Cultural Centre Manager Laurie Stalker at 3 p.m., followed by Ed and Anne Kryskow, who ran the festival for many years, at 3:30 p.m. 2011 Legacy Winner Raymonde Riopel , 91, will speak at 4 p.m. Riopel has lived in the community all her life and is the daughter of original settlers. Morinville’s firefighter combat team will do an interview at 4:50 p.m. to talk about Saturday’s firefighter challenge. The program will close at 5:35 p.m. with Paul Smith and country musician Jo Hikk teaming up for an acoustic song and interview. Hikk takes to the stage with his band later that evening.
The free breakfast precedes the broadcast day, the barbecue runs from 3 – 6 p.m.
“I hope that everyone will take some time to stop by for some food and to show our neighbours what a fabulous and welcoming community we are,” Holmes said.
Well done Councillor Holmes.