Whoop Up Days has been a great way for the Lethbridge community  to wind up summer for the last 100 years.
 Unfortunately due to  Covid-19, all touring concerts have been cancelled, as well as touring midway events, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun at home with your families.

This year, Exhibition Park is celebrating Whoop up Days 2020 with food, which dominates the family-centric events  planned, Aug. 18-22.

“It’s exciting to talk about some good news for once, said Exhibition Park Chief Operating Officer Mike Warkentin, noting half of the proceeds of this years events will be donated the Farm Credit (FCC) Drive Away Program which supports  nine Southern Alberta Food banks including Interfaith Food Bank, Lethbridge Food Back, and foo banks in Bow Island, Pincher Creek, Taber, Coaldale, Picture Butte, Claresholm and Standoff.

“It’s been a challenging year since we announced the cancellation of Whoop-Up Days in April. But it‘s been just as challenging for families and community members,” Warkentin continued.

 Umami Shop downtown reached out to Exhibition Park shortly after  Whoop Up Days was officially cancelled in April.
 They are sponsoring a locally sourced pancake breakfast, Tuesday, Aug.18.
 Kits are available for pre orders online www.exhibitionpark.ca for $19.99.
 MP Rachel Harder is also hosting a  free drive through pancake breakfast, Aug. 18 from 7-10 a.m.. But you have to register at www.rachelharder.ca to take part.

Covid 19 got the creative juices flowing during quarantine. In addition to about a dozen local musicians releasing CDs in the past few months, local visual artists have been hard at work.

 The 68 artists’ recent works culminates in The Summer Salon, the new exhibit at Casa, which officially opened on Monday, July 6.

“We have everyone from emerging and self taught artists all the way up to academic and professional artists,” said Casa curator Darcy Logan.
 The Exhibit, on all floors of Casa, runs until Aug. 21.

 “So it runs all summer,” Logan continued, adding he was impressed with the quality of the art submitted.

“We weren’t even sure if we  were going to be able to open casa,” he continued, adding organizing the exhibit came together quickly.

The multi-talented, multi-disciplinary artist Nick Bohle has killed two bird with one stone, so to speak by filming a new video with local artist Robert Bechtel and helping out the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen.

Bohle, who wears many hats including actor, film maker as well as a solo musician and guitarist for local hard rock band Dead Army, just released his video last week.
The video, under Bohle’s company name Hat Chap Productions, is about Bechtel’s exhibit ‘Studium’ which now has an extended run until July 31 at the Trianon Art Gallery thanks to Covid 19.

“I was walking in the coulee after work  on the west side between the wetlands and the dike and ran into John Savill (owner of the Trianon). It’s a nice place to walk. And we got to talking. I’ve known John for a long time because his son and my younger brother went to school together. And he told me about the new exhibit, which nobody could see because of Covid 19. So the idea of a making a documentary about the came up,”  Bohle related, noting he filmed it in between a lot of other projects including a new solo single due out in August and auditioning for acting jobs.

“I composed the music  for the  video too. it was a challenge to create the right mood for the exhibit. I didn't get it finished until  two weeks after the video was finished,” he said. adding he  only had a passing knowledge of Bechtel’s work before the video.

“I always liked art. I studied it in school. I’d heard of Rob and  walked by his works at Casa, but I didn’t really know him. He is an exceptional artist. He has a very Van Gogh painterly style,” he said adding Bechtel has an impressive body of work.

“There’s 200 pieces in this exhibit all from the past two years. He paints about a painting a day. And he graduated from the University of Lethbridge in 1995 and has painted steadily since then for about 25 years,” he enthused, adding he was glad to support Bechtel with the video.