2026 Elder Day Video - A History Speech

A Community History Presentation for Elder Day

Wanted to share this video I made for a recent event in the Community.

A few months ago, elders asked me to help prepare some images and a quick history for the 2026 Elder Day Conference. I sat in on planning meetings and listened to their conversations, and the topics they wanted to cover were far-reaching: housing, farming, education, religion, social life, culture, and more.

A big theme kept coming up: how much the Community has changed. The elders remembered a time when there were more events, more people showing up, more engagement at district and community meetings. And the more we talked, the more I think they’re right. There have been some major shifts, both in the Community and in the world around us, that have changed how we live.

But I didn’t have a huge timeslot. My original pitch ran about 45 minutes, which was way too long. This was a celebration, a gathering of elders from across the Community, a time to visit and catch up.

They didn’t come to sit through a long lecture from some whippersnapper.

So I chopped it down and tried to hit the highlights, broad “waves” of change in the Community. Each topic the elders raised could be its own lecture series, but I tried to capture them into themes. Maybe someday I’ll come back and do deeper dives.

I broke the history into four main sections, and I’m being super reductive. A lot of groundbreaking events had to be left out, and even starting at 1880 leaves out a huge amount of history. But I had to keep things manageable.

I also wanted images to go along with the words. I’ll post part two tomorrow showing some of the other work that went into this project. For now, I hope you enjoy the video and it inspires you to learn more about our Community history!

PS - If you prefer no captions, this version below makes it easier to see the photos.