Here we are in high river, alberta!
[cheering & applauding]
The land of open range, ranchers and rodeos.
It's full of diversity.
But canadian country western culture is king.
Shoot, this part of the heartland is where
They shoot parts of heartland.
[laughing]
But, folks, we got to talk about
The 2013 flood.
This was the worst flooding in provincial history.
It was devastating, not just economically,
But also emotionally.
And I think it still is.
Like, I was warned, I should not tell a joke
About the flood and the name of your town.
People are sick of that one, right?
Some people are like, "oh, gee,
High river, you got flooded,
Well, what'd you expect with a name like that?"
So I'm not going to tell that joke.
Even though I kind of just did.
[laughing]
That joke doesn't hold water.
And I'll tell you why-
That's not how high river got its name.
High river was named after the highwood river,
Which is named after the high wood, the tall trees,
The cottonwood trees that grow along its banks.
Actually, it's a shame that cottonwood trees
Aren't as absorbent as they sound.
[laughing]
That could've helped out quite a bit.
[applauding]
When you grow up in a small town in newfoundland,
You see that people have a sense of humour
About hard times.
Check, check.
I turned that into a career and hit the road.
[mc] mr. Jonny harris!
Now I'm on a mission to find the funny in the places
You'd least expect it,
Canada's struggling small towns...
Towns that are against the ropes,
But hanging in there...
Still laughing in the face of adversity.
This is high river, alberta.
♪
[cheering & applauding]
Now, around here early summer always sees heavy rains.
That, mixed with the melt coming down from the
Rockies into the foothills here, floods happen.
♪
But 2013 was different.
It caught everybody off guard.
By the time a mandatory town-wide evacuation
Was called, some people were already cut off.
I heard stories about the air evacuation.
Helicopters coming in,
People lifted off the roof of the sobeys.
Although, when I first heard that story,
I got it wrong 'cause I was told people lifted off the
Roof of sobeys, but I took it to mean people
Lift the roof off the sobeys.
-[laughing] -and I was just confused.
I was like, if it's pissing with rain,
Why would you leave the roof off your sobeys?
[laughing]
But in 2013,
Once the river had breached the banks,
It grew in some areas 35 times
Its normal width.
I can't even start to imagine how much water that is.
Like, all this led me to one question:
If the town is high river and the river is the high wood,
How much river did highwood river deliver
When the river got higher than high river?
[laughing, cheering, & applauding]
To get to the answer of that question,
I needed an in-depth recap weather report.
So, I got dialed in by local radio host, jody seeley.
[cheering & applauding]
Jody was on the air when the floodwaters came up.
She doesn't usually do sports,
But she was sort of giving the community
The play by play.
The water was coming around the corner,
Down the street to the radio station.
And it's not really anywhere near the river,
So the fact that the river was coming down our street
Was something we'd never heard of.
She was like, "ah, hey, folks, ah, so...
Weather's coming up."
-[laughing] -"I mean, really up.
Up to the front of the station."
[laughing]
The flood rains finally stopped,
But the real problem was the long-term devastation.
The radio station moved to the neighbouring community.
So, I'd have to drive through this torn-up,
Disastrous area into a community that was okay.
It broke her heart every morning when she was
Driving through high river, which was still a mess,
And going and doing her broadcast from a
Comfortable place that was unscathed by the flood.
God, even talking to you about it now, I can smell it.
I can go back there in an instant,
Even though it's ten years later.
Many homes couldn't be salvaged.
After several weeks of backed-up sewage
In the basement, that's it-
It's done, it's finished.
Although, I wonder if you're going to sell it,
Could you put that in the ad, 'finished basement'?
[laughing]
And so I said, is there some way we could have booths
On the ground in high river where we could be there?
And our team came up with the idea of
Having a remote trailer.
So, her and her team came up with a mobile
Generator-powered radio station,
And they set up camp over at the parking lot
Of the hitchin post.
And then we'd set up chairs so people could come sit.
I had lots of guests, lots of country music stars
Came down to be on the cheer-up committee and,
It just became this little centre of connection, really.
As a radio host, jody was not just a voice during
This time, she was company for people.
She started this thing,
It was called the hug or honk campaign.
I would go on the air every day and I'm like,
"if you're okay, and you're going past,
Give us a honk. Things are good.
If you're not okay, today, I want you to come in
And we're gonna have a hug."
And there would be lots of honking going on and
Lots of people who came in,
And I honestly think those hugs got us through
All of this crappy stuff.
And people loved it.
The government of alberta named her a flood hero for
Being a voice of hope in the community.
[cheering & applauding]
I like the sound of it too, honk or hug.
I never, I never heard of that before.
I had a buddy who had a bumper sticker that said,
"honk if you're horny."
[laughing]
Although you didn't want that guy stopping for a hug.
[laughing]
[applauding]
There's a festival every year here in high river.
It started out small, but I'm not blowing hot air
When I say it has bloomed.
Let me send up the founder of the heritage inn
International balloon festival, jaime kinghorn.
[cheering & applauding]
Jamie, he was out of town
When the flood struck in 2013.
My trailer and all my gear went underwater.
-Is that right? -Yeah.
His gear, his balloon was all wrecked.
And a new balloon is prohibitively expensive.
So, he got the idea from a friend to build a new balloon.
I went, huh, that's not a bad idea,
And I sat down with an excel spreadsheet.
Came up with that pattern.
Do you do it yourself or did you have to...?
Myself and a team.
Volunteers helped him build this big,
Beautiful balloon called the eye of ra.
Ra being the egyptian sun god.
And it naturally fits 'cause we'd like to fly in the sun,
And it's supposed to ward off evil and be a protector.
So that's pretty good,
When you're up in a hot air balloon,
To have an egyptian sun god as a protector.
Mind you, you still got to sign a waiver.
-Yeah. -[laughing]
After the flood, and we'd spent months
Digging out our basements and it was a
Horrible experience for a lot of people.
And I wanted to bring something to high river
That would, I know it sounds corny, but lift the spirits.
So, he asked several friends of his to bring
Their hot air balloons to high river.
I said, "hey, look, you know what
High river went through. You've seen it.
Would you guys come to high river?
It just would be so great for our town
And our community."
This flood was making headlines around the world.
And they came.
♪
The inaugural event had 15 hot air balloons here.
One of them was this quite famous hot air balloon.
It's the head of darth vader.
You've probably seen it before-
This is a friend of jamie's.
And he came all the way to high river from belgium.
And he used the force...
[laughing]
Of air currents, but still.
[laughing]
We did a night glow over here behind the rec plex,
And it was pretty amazing.
He said they held a night glow where all the balloons,
They're inflated and fired up,
But they remain tethered to the ground.
And so many locals came out.
He said at this point, high river was
Still a mess. It was shambles.
When we let the barriers down and
Let the crowd come in, people were crying.
It was an unbelievable emotional experience.
And everybody came out to see this event,
Everybody came together.
And he said it was moving for people.
A lot of people must have thought like, oh,
You know, maybe this is symbolic of life somehow.
Maybe things are gonna get better.
You know, maybe we should leave one of these
On the roof of sobeys just in case.
[laughing & applauding]
-Just in case. -[applauding]
We said, we want to get to a point,
When you google high river,
Up come pictures of balloons.
-Yeah. -That was our mission.
And I think we're pretty close now.
I think it's ingenious.
Whoever would have thought that a small town would
Profit so much from sky-high inflation?
[laughing & applauding]
♪
I found out there's a big mexican-canadian
Population here in high river.
[cheering & applauding]
And while young mexicans find their footing
In the foothills of alberta,
They brought fancy footwork from home.
I cut a rug with liz vigueras and myriam vasquez.
[cheering & applauding]
Of course, when moving to a new country with
A new culture, there's a concern,
There's a worry, especially with your kids,
That they'll sort of assimilate entirely.
You know, my father was so worried
When we immigrate 'cause he said,
"they are going to forget about us,
Our culture, our language."
Myriam, she was only 3 years old when she came over.
She had to speak spanish at home.
I was charging a dollar if they speak english at home.
It was one dollar per word that I spoke in english,
So I very quickly learned
I could only speak spanish at home.
Right.
I wonder if you'd quickly learn to like,
Maybe catch yourself when you spoke english,
Catch herself, and maybe throw on a vowel
To make it spanish.
Like, if liz tells myriam, you know,
She's got to clean her room,
It's like, "yeah, no problem...
Oh! No problemo."
[laughing]
I mean, it's not that different from, you know,
Canadians every now and then,
We'll throw a vowel in at the end of a word, eh?
[laughing]
Liz and myriam, they explained to me
How western mexico has the same sort of
Cowboy culture as western canada.
Well, here you have the rodeo.
In mexico, we have almost something similar,
But it's performed by charros or vaquero,
You know that big hat, sombrero?
There's ranchers and rodeos, and people work with ropes,
And there's cowboy hats and boots.
It's a real western thing.
I don't know why it's such a western-
I mean, like out in the east, we got cows and we got boys.
But, we don't really have cowboys.
[laughing]
And one, two...
They learn these traditional dances,
And it doesn't matter your skill or ability.
Some kids learn faster than others.
Now you squish the spider.
And one, two...
Liz said this is a no-judgment zone.
-Ah! -Yay.
When it comes to dance, their motto is,
"if at first you can't tip your partner,
Dosey-don't worry about it."
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
I met a couple from zimbabwe here in high river,
Who appear to have a foothold in the
Handheld pie market.
Owners of ubuntu pies,
Xolani and sinita ncube.
[cheering & applauding]
Ubuntu is a word from southern africa,
And it speaks to the oneness of humanity.
How we are all interconnected,
Interrelated in some way.
They told me ubuntu refers to an ideology,
A way of thought that we're all one and thusly,
There's a responsibility to help each other out and
Support each other.
How they do that as business owners is,
When they hire young people,
They teach them every part of the business.
Social media, you do the marketing,
You do the actual baking.
So, you do the entire process of the business.
Maybe most importantly and strangely, to me,
They encourage employees to move on to
New career opportunities.
We don't want them to stay here forever.
If it's more than two years, we would have to "fire" you
Because you gotta move on to other things.
Xolani said that once you've worked at ubuntu
For two years, you get fired.
[laughing]
Seems like a strange way to empower somebody, but...
-[laughing] -that's what they do.
They make all kinds of delicious stuff-
Steak and kidney, chicken pot pie,
Jerk chicken, that's the hottest one.
Hot, of course, is subjective to everybody.
Like sinita, she can handle her spice.
When people come in and they ask me
What level of spice is the jerk chicken,
I have to give two answers.
So the jerk chicken for her
She would say is six out of ten.
But she said if somebody like me shows up,
And I say, "how hot is the jerk chicken?"
She'll say ten out of ten, right?
And I think that's probably for the best.
I appreciate the concern,
And forgive the racial profiling.
[laughing]
To raise money for charity,
The ncubes came up with the spicy pie challenge.
It's all in the concept of ubuntu in action.
So, the idea behind the challenge is
Supporting local charities.
So, local businesses right here in high river
Can challenge each other,
And you each put in some money,
And then the winner, the money goes
To the charity of their choice.
So, there's five levels of spice.
They progressively get spicier.
So, we'll find out today what a gentleman
From newfoundland can do.
-[laughing] -oh, no.
And all the best to you, by the way.
And even before we started, I had myself psyched out.
Just, it's a challenge.
Just down them, just...
Don't chew.
Like, I could have eaten all five.
I could have stuffed them in my face quickly,
But like I wasn't worried about my mouth,
I was worried...
[laughing]
I was worried about my...
Future.
[laughing]
I eat the first piece and it was super hot.
Oh my god, that is one?
That's number one, jonny.
It's like, oh my god, what am I getting into?
Eat the second one. Okay, not so bad,
Maybe the first one sort of warmed me up.
The third one, I was like okay, I can do this,
I'm almost, I'm past the halfway mark,
I'm doing well. I'm on fire.
Fourth one...
Spontaneous combustion.
[laughing]
♪
[laughing]
Just one more to go.
No, I can't do it. [sighing]
I feel for him.
Oh my god, I started sweating.
My eyes are watering, my nose is running.
My heart speeds up, my thoughts are weird.
I'm like kind of confused and freaked out.
I'm like staggering around the kitchen.
I couldn't think of how to get any relief for my mouth,
And I think at some point I was like-
[overlapping] I don't know what to do!
[laughing]
I realized then suddenly I was out in the parking lot.
I didn't even realize how I got there.
I had a glass of milk and an apple with me.
[laughing]
'cause they say that, you know,
Dairy is good to calm down hot stuff.
And it really is. Like, honestly,
I didn't look too impressive when I was
Doing the spicy bite challenge,
But if you guys could have seen me back at the hotel
Bringing up a yogurt enema in the bathtub.
[laughing]
Total pro, total pro.
[applauding]
♪
When it comes to chuck wagon racing this
Ain't your first rodeo, but it was a first
For rodeos exactly 100 years ago.
To get the dirt, I was told to check out
A checkered chuck wagon and have a chat
With tom and jason glass.
[cheering & applauding]
1923, they kind of had a little cook-off
Of pancakes in front of the grandstand.
And when they were done cooking the pancakes,
They loaded up their wagons,
Kind of looked at each other and grinned,
And they raced back to the barn, and so,
The people just cheered and hollered and
Thought it was great, these wagons racing each other.
One of the participants in that inaugural race
100 years ago was tom's grandfather,
Jason's great-grandfather.
And we've been doing it for a long time and taking care
Of thousands of horses over 100 years so,
It's rewarded us.
We've all won lots of races and championships and,
You know, so it's been a great way to live.
♪
To watch the actual race, it's a spectacle.
It's a hell of an event. There's four wagons,
Each with four horses pull a wagon,
And then each wagon has two outriders.
And then when the horn blows,
One of the outriders he throws a stove-
A "stove", I'll explain later-
Into the back of the wagon.
And then, boom! The wagons are off.
And the outriders, they're jumping up
On their horses and they're chasing.
And the first thing the wagon's gotta do
Is this figure eight, so you got these
Four monstrously powerful horses
Carving around these barrels.
The wagon's behind them drifting,
Swinging around these turns,
And the dirt's flying through the air.
And people are cheering and stomping their feet
For some reason.
-[laughing] -it's craziness!
They finish this figure eight and they all
Funnel in tight together, and they go
Thundering down and they do a full lap.
And when they cross the line,
That's the end of the race.
At least that's the end of the race now.
Way back in the day,
They would do the whole race and then
Stop and get the stove out and stoke up a fire,
And whichever stove created smoke first,
That was the winner, which is pretty cool.
Maybe a bit anticlimactic.
[laughing]
I'd rather see four horses thundering full speed,
Hauling a wagon across the line.
That's a good way to finish the race,
Maybe more exciting than doing all that
And then getting the stove out,
Then there's a guy...
Trying to strike his matches.
[laughing]
He got an outrider over his shoulder, like,
"man, you did the kindling wrong.
You got to like make a teepee.
You got to do-"
"man, will you shut up.
I'm in the middle of a big race here!"
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
This is a town where a local broadcaster
Helped you through a disaster.
Hugs and honks helped ease the neuroses.
With new flood gates and dikes,
Next time it rains, you'll be alright.
Still, you shouldn't leave the roof off of your sobeys.
[laughing]
Things are looking up and when they do,
They see balloons, where the rule is,
Wherever the wind goes we go.
See for miles around and perhaps when you look down,
You'll see the dance of the durango in a gazebo.
[laughing]
Some rains poured from heavens,
Some reins lead to bits held between teeth of
Horses hitched to wagons.
Between my teeth, I held hot pies,
Though I know it wasn't wise.
It ended up my butt was fine.
Don't mind me bragging.
[laughing]
Now it's time for me to head back east,
For here our foothill paths are parting.
I'll tell anyone who ain't yet heard of ya,
They should see high river, alberta,
The place that surely puts the heart in heartland.
Thanks for coming out, everybody!
-You've been great! -[cheering & applauding]
Thanks so much! We love you, take care!
♪
[laughing]
Jonny, it would have been a six out of ten but for you,
It was a ten out of ten. So, you killed it.
[laughing]
And now the town is like more beautiful than ever,
So they really- -and thriving.
-Yeah, yeah. -You know...
They didn't let that set them back.
[speaking spanish]
[laughing]
♪
Don't touch your face?
Don't touch your face or your eyes
'cause the spices would hurt.
-Give 'er. -Yeah?
That's how we fly the balloon.
This is high river, alberta!
♪