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IT WAS MAGIC!

Our long-awaited documentary about Ohio's historic hiker, Grandma Emma Gatewood, who became the first woman to solo thru-hike the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail in 1955, had it's Red Carpet premier on Friday, May 29 at TrueNorth Cultural Arts and the Lorain County Metro Parks! The movie played to two sold out crowds who enjoyed a reception and talk-back in between the two film showings.

The two day event produced by Eden Valley Enterprises and FilmAffects and hosted by TrueNorth started out Thursday night, May 28, with a presentation of GRANDMA GATEWOOD: OHIO'S HISTORIC HIKER. This storytelling program was presented by Bette Lou Higgins and the evening's festivities were underwritten by The National Storytelling Network and The Parkhurst Brothers, Inc. and was a 2015 NSN Regional Spotlight Event. Audience members got a look at Emma's life and accomplishments and enjoyed a Q&A session afterward. It was the perfect background for the "rest of the story" that would come with the documentary showing on Friday.

Eden Valley's Artistic Director, Bette Lou Higgins and Rick Fortney, TrueNorth's Artistic Director, started off the Red Carpet Festivities as the crowd gathered on Friday May 29th.

Rick and Bette Lou were joined by TRAIL MAGIC writer and researcher, Kelly Boyer Sagert; director, Peter Huston of FilmAffects and Andy Verhoff from the Ohio History Connection.

The Ohio History Connection of the Ohio Historical Society presented Eden Valley with a $15,000 challenge grant to make the Trail Magic movie. More than 100 individuals and organizations stepped forward to help meet the matching requirement of $10,000 in cash or kind.

Anne McEvoy portrayed Grandma Gatewood in the film which included interviews with historians, Trail staff and volunteers, Emma's family, and Appalachian Trial hikers.
	Cleveland area musicians Jordan and Alethea Wilhelm and Foster Brown provided some of the musical background.
Emma's great-granddaughter, Marjorie Wood shared information on-screen and off about her grandmother's life. Marjorie came to the two-day event to help celebrate the culmination of this six year project to tell Emma's story.
Marjorie wrote: "The premier of the PBS documentary was much more than I could imagine! Bette Lou, Peter and Kelly did a wonderful job telling Grandma's story. Anne McEvoy, did an amazing job portraying Grandma. Peter is a fabulous film maker and made her come to life through film. Bette Lou and Kelly told her story through words. There were so many people that work[ed] hard the last six years to make this documentary a reality. Now, Grandma's story can been seen by a new generation of people."
Read more comments about the film from our audience members. We are grateful to EVERYONE who joined us for these events and especially to all our donors and supporters over the years. Be sure to check our calendar regularly to find out where Emma's story will be told next. If your group is interested in hosting an event, let us know -- we'd love to bring this remarkable story to you!