Saturday marks the first official day of the Historic Lethbridge Festival 2010. This festival is celebrating it's 7th year this year. In 2003, 3 Galt Museum staff met with members of other local and regional organizations who were interested in bringing history more into the forefront of people's minds through a week of activities, programs and events.

Like any other festival, it has gone through a process of learning and trying to balance so many things - what does the public want, how do we make that happen, how do we involve more organizations, how and where to market the events, etc. We even have questioned when in the year to have it - it typically falls in May but one year we moved it to September, for example.

It has been exciting to see the growth - events like Taste of Downtown (the Festival's fundraiser, which sold out in 6 business hours this year!), the involvement of media and PR students from the college to assist the committee and also get some real hands-on experience with marketing and event planning, the addition of new organizations each year, and the addition of a theme - using a different decade each year.

Last year it was ironic that the theme was the 1930's - with the economy doing so poorly and the crazy weather we were experiencing, some of our life was like a flashback (though minor in comparison) to that decade!

This year we are excited to welcome in the 1940's! What was life like during the War? What did people do? And generally, what types of things were going on in this region during that time??

There are so many activities, programs and events to choose from. As well, two Galt volunteers - Miranda Grol and Danielle Mahon (who is with Katimavik) have curated a case that will be on display showing about a dozen items from every day life in the 40s!

So come dance the night away to the Herb Hicks Quintet for only $15 (and Maxine Strain will be offering swing lessons early in the night).....learn about War Brides....and more! To check out the full schedule see http://www.historiclethbridge.org/. And unfortunately, Taste of Downtown IS sold out but tickets will next go on sale exactly one month before the 2011 event date (which is always the first Wednesday of May).

Looking forward to seeing you next week at some of the events and activities going on. And feel free to share your feedback because we are an ever-evolving festival (even better, join the Steering Committee - it's a great group of people!)