Film Night raises $4,000

April 2008 The first annual Conrad Kain Mountain Film Night was hailed a huge success after playing to a standing-room-only audience at J.A. Laird School. The event, which was organized by the Conrad Kain Centennial Society, raised $4,000 toward the completion of the school’s Conrad Kain Climbing Wall.
 
The audience of 278 watched a variety of films from the “best of” the 2008 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival tour. Prior to screenings, there were introductory presentations by Centennial Society chairman Hermann Mauthner, Kain historian Arnor Larson and film-maker Pat Morrow.
 
The climbing wall was constructed by Herb Weller, a member of the Conrad Kain Centennial Society and climbing instructor, with the help of his students, their parents, staff, local businesses, community members and school district construction workers.
 
“I’m very pleased with how the night went and I had a lot of positive comments. The movies were great and I think a lot of people enjoyed seeing the climbing wall in action. And the wall is almost paid off now. The whole new addition cost $32,000, and it’s taken a lot of fundraising over the past couple of years, but it’s great to see the wall becoming very popular and used by so many people in the valley,” Herb said.
 
The film night was the first in a series of events and projects commemorating the centennial of mountain guide Conrad Kain’s arrival in Canada in 1909.