Last year, Unity's Run for Riderville brought out media from all corners of the province. As well, we were fortunate to be a stop on CTV's Home Town Tour. This year, we had the great fortune of having CBC's very own Mark Kelley stop in Unity April 20 for his series Connect with Mark Kelley. The series he was filming last week was called Connect the Vote and he travelled to several communities asking folks about their thoughts on the upcoming federal election.
Mark and CBC chose Unity because of its name. They felt, being that federal politics does not necessarily represent 'unity' and that national unity is always in the minds of politicians and countrymen, they would visit a town with that very name and see what "Unity" is all about.
Unity was thrilled to have CBC in town for an entire day, talking to townsfolk and filming about town. Several folks, including myself, were interviewed on what we felt our town, Unity, was all about. The general consensus was the friendliness, willingness to help a neighbour and working together for common causes is a good portion of what our community is about.
We were also asked if we knew how Unity got its name. Dan Feser, our local paper editor and chief, gave a most amusing, yet convincing answer until he followed it up with the real reason for Unity's name, that being the alphabetical order in which the railroad named stops along the line, as in Tako, Unity, Vera, Winter. Even host Mark Kelley came back with a smile on that one!
People noticed how down-to-earth Kelley was as a media personality, and being from a large city. Mark himself noted how friendly townsfolk were and how he is not used to seeing that coming from a large city.
Besides the live news broadcast being filmed from Unity, a round-table discussion, earlier in the day in the Co-op coffee shop, was held on party platforms in relation to the upcoming federal election. Area residents, Gilles Colbert (who claims he is the only Liberal in Unity), Hal Hepting, Gil Pederson and Norbert Kratchmer were asked varying questions on platform topics. In the end, the vote compass told them which party their views were aligned with. Two of the members' views were completely in line with the party they were supporting, while the other two teetered between two parties' views. This same election compass can be taken on a personal level by logging onto cbc.ca.
In closing, host Mark Kelley commented on how folks don't honk and yell as they do in other larger centres but instead slow down and give a friendly wave and smile. His closing comment was very flattering, stating, "If this is what unity is all about, then I for one like it! Thank you Unity!"
So again, it seems that our community has made a name for itself, not just for what we do but for who we are. Thank you CBC for choosing our community and showing others what Unity is about.
