Lehighton to be the next focus of WVIA’s “Our Town” Series

With plenty of history to tout, Lehighton will soon have its own day in the spotlight.

“Our Town Lehighton” will premiere on WVIA at 8 p.m. May 10.

“Our Town Lehighton” will be a “day-in-the-life” one-hour video scrapbook focusing on the people, places and happenings of Lehighton, as seen through the eyes of its residents.

All borough residents are encouraged to attend the first “Our Town Lehighton” community/volunteer meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at the PFC Clyde Houser Building.

Residents will discuss which landmarks, events and local stories the program should tell about their town, and WVIA will answer questions about the project during the meeting and ask volunteers to brainstorm a list of subjects and events to feature in video, and to think of photos and articles they can provide as visuals for the program.

That will be followed by a second community/volunteer meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at the PFC Clyde Houser Building, which will give residents unable to attend the first meeting a chance to add to the list of topics. All will participate in a whiteboard session to determine the best list of stories for the program. The group will discuss which stories each volunteer will create with video or other available visual materials to create “Our Town Lehighton.” WVIA hopes to recruit 25 to 35 area residents as local storytellers. All are invited to use their smartphones, iPads and personal camcorders to create material.

Residents will confirm that all community topics volunteers want to include are being covered by at least one of them. Volunteers and storytellers will receive time and location information for two “interview days” to be held in late March and early April, which will conclude the story gathering process. After that, the WVIA editors go to work to distill the submitted material into an hourlong television program.

“There’s a lot of work to do between now and the premier date,” said WVIA “Our Town” producer, Joe Krushinsky. “My main focus is to get people to come to the borough annex.”

Krushinsky said anyone who hears about the meeting who lives in or around the borough should attend and tell friends to attend since they also may have perspectives that are well worth including.

He said the show will eventually be available on DVD and online.

“I hope that it’s something they consider to be a keepsake,” Krushinsky said. “It worked out very well for Tamaqua.”

“Our Town Tamaqua,” aired on WVIA on June 12.

Anyone interested in being a videographer or storyteller, or anyone who wants to a suggest an interview subject or story idea for the program should contact Krushinsky at 570-602-1297 or joekrushinsky@wvia.org.