YORKTON - The 78th edition of the Yorkton Film Festival is 小蓝视频 held this week in the city.
As a reminder, the Yorkton Film Festival is North America’s longest running film festival. Established in 1947 by the Yorkton Film Council and spearheaded by NFB Field Officer James Lysyshyn, YFF has evolved from its beginnings to an important festival in the film industry within Canada.
While the festival is important in the sense of film in Saskatchewan, Canada and beyond, it is also an important local reminder that we should never fear dreaming big.
Can you imagine the sheer audacity of those who first gathered nearly 80 years ago and floated the idea of Yorkton hosting what initially was an international film festival.
We must remember all those decades ago Yorkton was a community it is safe to say would not have been recognized by many outside Saskatchewan, and perhaps a few in neighbouring Manitoba. So to think the community could attract films from across the globe and find a local audience too, was dreaming large to say the least.
And yet, those few, all those years ago were able to launch a festival, and it took roots deeply here, persevering through the years – some of them bleak with its future in doubt – and now it remains a highlight for Yorkton.
There is a message for our community today echoing from the festival’s distant path, one that says you can think big, colour outside the lines, and make it work if you really want it to.
It is a message that has been heard at times.
There was definite dreaming in the launch of Harvest Showdown, an agriculture-based event that started out in tents, the pegs pounded through the parking lot asphalt years ago. There would have been doubters when the idea was first raised, but thankfully they were ignored and Harvest Showdown remains a connection to the city’s agrarian roots.
And, who would have dreamed how big, and how successful the Parkland Outdoor Show would be? Well thankfully someone dreamed it, and made it happen.
The Yorkton Lions Club showed some dreaming of its own when it came up with the idea of a seasonal light parade. Still in its infancy, the dream can only get bigger and be better as a draw for Yorkton.
So, what’s next?
Does someone dream Yorkton hosting the biggest Lego sculpture contest on the continent?
Maybe a $100 K crokinole tournament?
An outdoor SJHL game with the local Terriers taking on Melville in front of the grandstand?
It’s impossible really to foresee what wild, and maybe a little crazy, the ideas might be, but every one of them needs to be floated out to the broader community, and just maybe in about the year 3000 that idea will still be the seed of an event in our community.
