With the centennial anniversary of the High Level Bridge coming up in June, many organizations and groups have some great events in the works over the next several months to celebrate what makes Lethbridge the ‘bridge city’.

There are many events taking place this summer, but here is a glimpse at what’s coming up this Spring in Lethbridge.

The Lethbridge Philatelic Society (stamp society) has created stamps to commemorate the centennial.

“The first stamps we’ve done is based on the logo that the Allied Arts has developed,” said Jonathan Dean, a member of the Lethbridge Stamp Society. “We are also developing two other stamps of the bridge, one of the bridge under construction, and then a modern day stamp, which is the one we’ll be printing.”

The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra will hold a concert, and the Galt Museum and will have bridge-related exhibits. They will be putting on their final concert of the season, titled ‘Bridge to Fini’ on May 4 at the Southminster United Church at 8 p.m.. They will be joined by a very special guest, 13-year old piano prodigy Jan Lisieski.

“Our entire symphony this year has been on the building bridges theme, metaphorically,” said Dawn Leite, general manager of the Lethbridge Symphony Association. “We’re actually performing a piece by Villa-Lobos called “The Little Train of the Brazilian Countryman”. It depicts the sounds a steam locomotive makes when it’s on the tracks.”

For more information, contact Dawn Leite at the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra at 403-328-6808.

The Galt Museum has a few events taking place to celebrate the bridge’s centennial.

The Galt will start off their celebrations for the High Level Bridge centennial with their ‘Feast By the Bridge’ spring fundraiser on May 8 at 6:30 p.m., followed by the grand opening of their newest exhibit, ‘The Mighty Bridge’, open from May 9 to Sept 20. It will feature an immersive experience that will allow visitors to learn a great deal about the High Level Bridge, how it was built, what it would have been like to live in Lethbridge at the time of construction, and what the bridge means to the city of Lethbridge.

“People will be given a train ticket when they come (to) the admissions desk, and that ticket will guide them through the viewing gallery, and the permanent gallery, where they’ll stop along the way to look at elements of influence that the CPR had on Lethbridge and Southern Alberta,” said Wendy Aitkins, curator at the Galt Museum. “They will go into the main exhibit, (but) to access that, they’re going to have to cross a mural on the floor and it (will) actually give people the impression of walking across the bridge and looking down between their feet and between ties and tracks into the valley below.”

There will also be a slideshow that will display historic photographs of the construction of the bridge, and a map that will show how the railway line changed changed when the bridge was built.

The Galt will also be holding a photo exhibition from May 9 to May 20 to showcase local artwork depicting the bridge through the years.

“We have done a competition, and we have chosen 31 photographs, and they will be shown on our main floor and in our meeting room,” said Aitkins. “The other is the Lethbridge Artists Club, and we have 14 paintings that the members have produced on the lower floor gallery.“

For more information, contact the Galt Museum at 403-320-3898.

The Lethbridge Community Gold Band will be presenting ‘Bridging the Arts’ on May 9 at 7 p.m. at the Yates Theatre. There will be performance with drums, music, and dancing. Tickets are $15, and are available at the Yates.

They will also be joined by the University of Lethbridge Gold Drums and dancers from the Irish Dance Academy.

For further information about the Community Gold Band, contact the Allied Arts Council at 403-320-0555.

Originally posted 2009-05-06 22:52:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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