Close to Home Weekend Highlights Local Culture, Winter Olympic Memories
DATE: January 26, 2010
CONTACT: Joanna Cummings
PHONE: 518-563-9770 ext. 127
EMAIL: jcummings@mountainlake.org
Plattsburgh, NY – Regional culture comes alive January 28 to 31 during the fourth year of Mountain Lake PBS’ Close to Home weekend. Documentaries from award-winning producers will be showcased, along with Mountain Lake’s own popular and local program series including Roadside Adventures, Art Express, Rustic Living, Mountain Lake Journal and newly produced Mountain Lake Journal EXTRA.
Not only will Mountain Lake PBS producers, staff members, board members and volunteers be in the studio for on-air appearances, but many community partners will be making live on-air appearances as well.
“Close to Home gives us the opportunity to celebrate our role as regional storyteller. We showcase local programs that educate with compelling stories combined with websites, lesson plans and other resources,” states Director of Production and Programming Colin Powers. "We also want to thank our members and viewers for their continued support, because without that support, we can’t continue to produce the quality of programming we have broadcast throughout the years."
Highlighting the weekend schedule are three recent documentaries produced by Mountain Lake PBS that received critical acclaim including: Dead Reckoning~Champlain in America, the story of Samuel de Champlain’s explorations in North America; Forgotten War: The Struggle for North America, which tells the story of the French and Indian War in a way that has never been told before, and The Collector’s Edition of A Castle in Every Heart: The Arto Monaco Story, the exceptional recounting of an Adirondack legend and theme park pioneer.
“We look forward to broadcasting Close to Home every year as our way of saying to the North County, ‘look at how unique and spectacular this region is’,” stated Mountain Lake President and CEO Alice Recore. “Sharing these stories through community events like Close to Home fulfills our goal of being the region’s public media resource.”
During this Winter Olympic year Mountain Lake revisits the 1980 Winter Olympics with Small Town, Big Dreams: Lake Placid’s Olympic Story, a documentary that chronicles how the tiny village of Lake Placid, New York, grew into a winter sports capital and gave the world the greatest hockey upset in Winter Olympic history—the Miracle on Ice. And many people who participated in the 1980 Winter Olympics as sportscasters, course masters and competitors will share their recollections of this historical event in a collection of interviews entitled Winter Olympic Memories. Watch the trailer for Small Town, Big Dreams at: www.smalltown-bigdreams.com/trailer.html
Close to Home will also be incorporated into the Thursday evening program schedule during Mountain Lake's pledge periods throughout the year, featuring an all-local theme. More information about Close to Home Weekend and the program schedule can be found at: www.mountainlake.org/programming/close-to-home-2010.html
Mountain Lake PBS reaches over 3.9 million viewers in New York, Vermont, Quebec and Ontario and produces award-winning local programs and documentaries. Mountain Lake devotes at least eight hours a day to programming for children from preschool through school age. Our mission is to celebrate and strengthen the civic and cultural life of the Mountain Lake region by providing distinctive telecommunications programs and services that inform, educate, involve and entertain.
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