‘World Tour Wednesdays’ kick off Sept. 2
Published 4:20 pm Tuesday, September 1, 2020
1 of 2
Photo Contributed Promotional picture for the World Tour Wednesday Series.
Photo Contributed Since the summer, meals have been picked up for children as well as activity bags.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
BY BRITTNEE NAVE
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Let’s take a tour of the world.
Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 2, attendees can explore a different country with a movie at the Bonnie Kate Theatre. This 12-week event, which ends Nov. 18, is part of a series called World Tour Wednesdays.
This program is being offered by Bonnie Kate Theatre, Carter County Drug Prevention and Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library.
According to Jilian Reece, director of the Carter County Drug Prevention Coalition, the series has roots from the summer.
Throughout the summer, the CCDPC had partnered with the City of Elizabethton Parks and Recreation on a summer camp pickup series that fed children for free each week and provided an activity bag.
“We felt like it was important to continue doing something, so this time we decided to partner with the library because they have been doing something similar,” Reece explained.
“We partnered with them to do this new set of pickup events, and we were looking at something that would appeal to different ages and create collaboration in the community.”
The world tour experience consists of three parts. The first includes picking up a passport and activity bag with aspects of a different country, the second being a film at the Bonnie Kate and the third being a link to a ZOOM meeting with a person from the country, or has visited the country, that week.
“It’s just that spirit of collaboration whether it be Parks and Rec or the library or Bonnie Kate or people in the community, and bringing people together to have something educational across all age groups,” said Reece.
Jeff Treadway, with Bonnie Kate, shared a similar desire for community collaboration, speaking positively on the partnership. Not only does this benefit the program, but also the theatre in community support for restoration plans as well.
Along with her desire to enhance community collaboration, Reece expressed a desire to help kids during these uncertain times.
Shannon Payne, with the PEAK Mentorship Program, which works with the CCDPC, said that he hopes this series will provide a sense of normalcy for kids.
“We just want to help the kids,” he said. “Right now is a very troubling time, very traumatic, so we want to try to bring some normalcy back for a little while and take their mind off things.”
Along with this program, the hope is to also find mentees for the PEAK Mentorship Program. Reece explained that during this time, children having mentors is very valuable.
As the series kicks off this week, Australia will be the first stop on this world tour with the film “The Rescuers Down Under.”
Each Wednesday, films will be shown at 1 p.m. at the Bonnie Kate, where donations are welcome and concessions will be sold; social distancing (masks, limited seating, cleaning) will be in place as well.
Prior to this, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. attendees can go to the back of the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library to pick up their passport (or have it stamped), receive an activity bag and a free lunch.
The total 12-week tour includes the following stops:
-
Second Stop (Sept. 9) – England with “Mary Poppins Returns”
-
Third Stop (Sept. 16) – Brazil with “Rio”
-
Fourth Stop (Sept. 23) – Germany with “Tangled”
-
Fifth Stop (Sept. 30) – France with “Ratatouille”
-
Sixth Stop (Oct. 7) – Canada with “Anne of Green Gables”
-
Seventh Stop (Oct. 14) – South Africa with “Madagascar”
-
Eighth Stop (Oct. 21) – Ireland with “Brave”
-
Ninth Stop (Oct. 28) – China with “Mulan”
-
Tenth Stop (Nov. 4) – Japan with “Detective Pikachu”
-
Eleventh Stop (Nov. 11) – Belize with “Fern Gully”
-
Twelfth Stop (Nov. 18) – Mexico with “Coco”
“We want people to take advantage of the community coming together,” said Reece. “Come take advantage of this and have something for kids to do.”
