TEDDY BEAR PICNIC - Coquitlam, BC
Yurgen and I first met at the Teddy Bear Picnic around the year 2000. Above is our first Teddy Bear Picnic performing together. That picture below is us at the Teddy Bear Picnic 20 years later in 2022.
We have performed hundreds and hundreds of shows together entertaining children. Oh, how much fun we had! Oh, how we made the children laugh, inspired them to come to learn music, to connect families and make new friendships. It has been a most incredible, inspiring journey through time! I am in gratitude.
THE FLUTE: Along with doing music for children and families, Yurgen played the flute on many of my recordings: ‘CHILDREN ARE THE HEALERS OF THE WORLD’, and most recently on ‘DREAM OF A KINDER WORLD’.
The following photo is when I sang CHILDREN ARE THE HEALERS OF THE WORLD at the 911 memorial held in Vancouver in around 2002. It was a fundraiser for families of the firefighters who lost their lives in the attack on the towers. We sang with a symphony orchestra behind us. Yurgen did a flute solo during the song. You can watch the video on the video page!
IPE – InterProvincial Exhibition
Armstrong, BC –
End of Summer 2018. ion
We had several shows each day through the duration of the fair!
Douglas Park- Vancouver
We did many Summer shows in the park in Vancouver. Hundreds of families would bring their kids to dance along to our music!
HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF SHOWS!
Message from Yurgen: Janina and I did hundreds and hundreds of shows together, if not several thousand! We did big stage concerts at special events and festivals throughout the year. Janina was always so captivating on stage. It was so much fun to perform with her! She was so funny! The children would laugh and laugh! And of course, her magnificent voice captured everyone’s attention and appreciation!
Along with big stage concerts Janina would take on extra work entertaining at parties and smaller events. She had started doing this way back when she and Tim were still together. Tim would drive her around to different places during the weekends to birthday parties at someone’s house. They often did two parties a day, sometimes three! Back in the days when someone had to actually hold a huge paper map close to their face to try to read the street names and look for the address to where they were going!
In the past five years since I have lived with Janina I often went along with her to many of these parties! Of course, we used maps on our phone and were led to each address like magic! I got involved with the children too, singing, playing games, doing funny puppets together. These were such special times. The music, the fun, the laughter with the young children will ring in my heart forever!
THE FIRST TIME WE MET
Meeting Janina and the way it all happened in our lives must have been pre-planned, or had some kind of divine intervention, as we always kept running into each other; connecting in some way without even meaning to.
Way back in the Summer of 1998 (I think)? It was way before Janina and I had met, that we happened to run into each other at the Maple Ridge Fair. I was performing several shows at the Agrifair at the Kid’s Stage through the weekend
As I was doing one of the shows that day, out in the audience, I noticed a tall, slender woman with a dazzling mane of RED HAIR! She was pushing a stroller. In the stroller was a young boy, perhaps aged around three years old. Standing beside this beautiful woman was the most handsomist man I had ever seen, tall, very good looking. I thought to myself, such a beautiful couple! I envied the man to be with such a beautiful woman! I remember her because I saw her walking around the fairground later on.
Now, this was the Summer before, or maybe even two Summers before I actually met Janina! We talked about this twenty years later and both remember seeing each other at the fair that day.
Up to this point I had also been entertaining at the Teddy Bear Picnic in Coquitlam for about five years or sol. During this time there were two stages at the Teddy Bear Picnic. I was the MC on one of the stages, and Tony Prophet was the MC for the other stage. Apparently, Janina had been performing there on Tony’s stage for a couple of years already, and I didn’t even know, or see her. The event was always so busy. I often didn’t have time to wander around and see the other activities.
At that time I also had a yearly gig at the Blue Mountain Park Scout Hall for the year-end party for the preschool that resided in the hall. The party was always a week or two before the Teddy Bear Picnic. They had the party during a weekday evening so that parents could all attend after work.
Now, this one year it was to be on a Tuesday evening, and I could not make the party due to an important meeting I had to attend at Place des Arts. I remember being quite anxious about not being able to do the party and worrying that they would hire someone else that would be better than me and that they would not want me anymore. Yes, I know it sounds silly, but I was often insecure back then
So, after my meeting I thought I would go up to Blue Mountain Park and have a sneak peek at who was doing the show I normally did.
Usually, the party was outside on the grass in the park around the hall. This year it was raining like crazy, so they were having the party squished together inside the Scout Hall. When I came to the park for my ‘peek’ I saw the large double doors on the side were open and allowed me a clear view of what was happening inside.
My eyes grew wide with amazement! I was looking at this most astonishing woman dressed in a sparkling purple outfit. Her arms were reaching out as she knelt in front of a group of about 20 to 25 children! The children were laughing. The woman reached back, put her hand under the back of her long luscious hair, lifted and flipped her hair to the side, then started singing and playing the guitar she was cradling in her arms. I was quite far away, yet could hear that her voice was strong and inviting! Wow!
I watched for about 10 minutes mesmorised and dazzled by her talent and her beauty! At the time I had no recollection that this was the woman I had seen at the Maple Ridge fair a year or two earlier. We only pieced that together later on
Then a week or two later was the Teddy Bear Picnic! Yes, I had my stage, and apparently Janina was performing again on the other stage. This time after her show Janina had decided to walk around and see what was going on at the other stage, my stage. She remembers getting there just as I was finishing one of my performances. After I finished, I introduced the next act, and left the stage to go by the sound booth to make balloon animals for some of the kids.
It was there that Janina and I first looked at each other in the eyes and met! I can’t remember who said hello first, but I remember making her a blue balloon animal. I also remember asking her to marry me! Her dress that day looked like a flowing white wedding gown, with lace and all. She looked like a bride. With her red hair in contrast she looked stunning! So, I said something like, “Well, you’re all dressed and ready to go, let’s get married!” She laughed her infectious laugh and said something equally funny about how my jean overalls were not really appropriate attire for a wedding!
So, there it was, our first meeting – at the Teddy Bear Picnic in June 1999. (or maybe 2000?)