Banff Film Festival
Dear Editor: Wow! What a great night Friday at the Banff Film Festival. To a sold-out crowd, Sitka shined bright this past weekend with a line-up of inspirational and action-packed films, spectacular raffle prizes and an outstanding audience filled with our community spirit. Friday night, Sitka was honored to be one of hundreds of host sites around the world. Each of us were captivated and our adventurous spirits ignited.
An event this size takes an army and many people to create a successful night like this with many to thank! A huge thanks to the Performing Arts Center for providing and maintaining top-notch equipment. We couldn’t do it without the grand support of PAC house manager Savannah and the PAC tech team. Thank you to Jackie, our back-of-house tech volunteer, as well as our raffle prize runners Nate, Nat and Gary. Additionally, thank you to Kenley and all the ushers for their front-of-house support. Thank you to the Banff Film Fest Committee who volunteers their time and energy to select the film program (Dawn Johnson, Allison Martin, Twila Keaveny, Kari Sagel, Gary Hayes, Dan Gunn, Krisanne Rice and Jeff Budd).
We thank all the many local businesses involved for their support and advertisement. Our Banff “Road Warrior” enjoyed complimentary accommodations courtesy of Westmark Hotel (thank you, Joe!). Special mention goes out to Raven Radio and the Sitka Sentinel for the PSAs, articles and interviews to hype up the night. Thank you to Old Harbor Books for providing the incredible service of ticket selling. Thank you to our wonderful, generous, local sponsors who contributed raffle prizes: Russell’s, Yellow Jersey Cycle and Work and Rugged Gear.
Finally, we would like to thank the entire community of Sitka for your support and attendance! Thanks to you we were able to raise over $2,800 for the Hames Wellness Fund which will go to a variety of nonprofits to help motivate and inspire folks to work towards wellness goals. Thank you to all who attended! You made it a great success and together we will be able to keep the Banff Film Fest returning and greatness happening within the Sitka community. We can’t wait for next year!
Dawn Johnson,
Hames Center Director
