Local contingent to celebrate Culver City’s centennial
They’re heading to Hollywood! Mayor Chris Spearman and five members of the Lethbridge Twinning Society are flying to California to take part in Culver City’s 100thanniversary celebrations.
Culver City, home to most of Hollywood’s major movie studios, is one of four communities with formal “sister city” links to Lethbridge.
“It’s an important component (in) commemorating 100 years of Hollywood,” explains Twinning Society spokesperson Michael Bennett.
A parade and other activities will kick off celebrations on Saturday, he says. Visitors from Lethbridge will be part of the parade, he adds. Twinning group members in Culver City will help them with Canadian flags and other symbols during the event.
Later, Bennett says Lethbridge will be represented at a gala event in Sony Studios, the latest name for the complex which includes such historic facilities as the MGM, Tri-Star and Columbia Pictures studios.
Lethbridge’s twin-city relationship with Culver City goes back 27 years, Bennett says.
That’s when then-mayor David Carpenter and radio host Wally Hild — president of the society in early times — travelled south to formalize the pact.
“Over the years, numerous exchange visits have occurred between the two cities with sports teams, musical groups, high school students as well as official delegations of mayors and city council members.”
It’s already been a busy year for the society, Bennett says, with a Culver City delegation here earlier this summer in addition to representatives from Great Falls, Lethbridge’s newest “sister city.”
“We also marked the 60th anniversary of Sister Cities International while attending a special conference in Washington, D.C.”
Lethbridge’s long-distance links — which also include Towada City in northern Japan — began after the German army was defeated in 1944. Bennett says that’s when southern Albertans banded together to send food and clothing to Timashevsk, a southern Russian city that had been devastated during the Second World War.
While the internet has made information sharing and cordial greetings easier in recent years, Bennett says, the Cold War during the 1950s and other political issues in years since has made visits to that city problematic.
But there’s been plenty of interaction with Towada and the two American cities, he adds.
Bennett says the non-profit, volunteer-based society maintains a membership of 75 or 80 Lethbridge-area people, from many backgrounds. It welcomes “all citizens to become involved in our volunteer activities and exchange visits.”
The society receives no city grant, Bennett says, so members pay for their own transportation. But sister-city hosts generally cover all their guests’ meals and accommodation — just as Lethbridge members do here.
Later this year, he says, members will play host to several groups of students coming here for intensive English as a second language (ESL) experience through the University of Lethbridge.
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