Happy Canada Day!

I have to be honest...I was a little skeptical about this Canada Day celebration in Steinbach. I didn't know what to expect except free cupcakes and fireworks. And I thought, how is this going to be cool? The event was from 9pm to 11pm...what would people do for two hours?! Well, I was wrong. Tons of people came out, and it was tons of fun! True, there was nothing really going on except free cupcakes, and people waiting for the fireworks...but that didn't matter. Kids were playing. Families were hanging out. And that's all that mattered. It was really neat to watch. Today's society is all about entertainment value...which I fully admit I sometimes fall prey to (and was obviously guilty of in my attitude about this whole event!). But last night was all about enjoying the incredible, bug-less (true...I only noticed the mosquitos after the fireworks...not sure if it was because I was filming and was too busy to notice them, or because they really weren't there!) summer evening with people you love. And really, kids can make anything fun...if they want to. Many of them were running around chasing each other, playing catch, kicking soccer balls, doing cartwheels, and playing with their parents.
So good to see.

Happy Birthday, Canada! We are so blessed to call you "home".

I filmed this video for the City of Steinbach's website. Mark encouraged me to do it, and said he would give me some direction along the way. I filmed the entire thing, and he sat in a lawn chair editing the clips throughout the evening. Thankfully we ran into his cousins, who were gracious enough to let Mark set up his little outdoor 'office' next to them (which probably curtailed some funny stares at 'the dude who brought his laptop to the fireworks')!
I was a bit nervous about the whole thing...this was my first 'live' event. But I ended up having so. much. fun. It was exhilerating to walk through the crowd with my camera to search out festive faces (loved the painted faces!!), laughter, kids doing the cute things kids do (like that girl eating the fruit roll up?! that clip gets me every time!), and families just being together. Like families should be on a holiday.

Go Team Hiebert. Thanks for your help, Mark!