Dear Chantal,

I hope you are doing well this Halloween evening - are you and Raine taking the kids out trick or treating? I remember growing up trick or treating in Waskada... the community members were very generous with the candy... I would come home with a pillowcase full of treats more often than not. It would take me months to eat it all. It's nice for parents having their kids trick or treat in Waskada as well - everyone knows everyone - you don't need to be worried about what house they go to or whether or not there might be a poisoned apple in all that candy! That's just one of those great things about a small town - feeling safe, and protected. It was really a wonderful thing to experience my childhood there... I had so much freedom to run around town playing with my friends... the whole town watching out for you to make sure you stay safe!

But I'm getting off topic... I apologize. If you do read this blog, Chantal, you'll know that when I get talking about my hometown I can start to ramble on for quite a long time. I really wanted to personally congratulate you on being the Manitoba artist selected to write a song for the CBC Radio 2 Great Canadian Song Quest. A well-deserved honour! I am sure that you were more than a little shocked to find out you'd be singing about Waskada! I would love to know what your first reaction was... probably something like "Where the *beep* is Waskada?" And after that, perhaps it was "How in the *beep* did such a tiny little place win this contest?"

I guess since you've only got a month, you've started your research on Waskada. You probably know a bit about it and how we won (through hard work and determination - two words that describe perfectly the spirit of the community). You wouldn't believe how exciting it is for Waskada to win this contest! Hearing Waskada's name in the news, on the radio... it's just awesome! I think the story of the little town that could has captured people's hearts through this contest. I hope it will capture yours too while you are working on the song that will immortalize this special place!

On the topic of you working on the song... I wanted to let you know about a few little things, of a practical nature, that may help you as you compose.

1. Pronouncing Waskada. It's pronounced kind of like this... Wah-skay-dah. It's tricky. One of those tough to pronounce, tough to spell words. I was thinking you could probably sympathize as you have a bit of a tricky last name too (I won't lie... I had a tough time making sure I spelled it right on the blog!). ;)

2. Rhyming with Waskada. On Marilyn Maki's show the other day she played some of the things that people thought of that could rhyme with Waskada. Your husband's last name, Maida, was one of them (cute, eh?)! Another cute one... "going on a data-a, heading to Waskada..." But after that, it got worse... someone had the name of another place/town that rhymed with Waskada...  but, of course, this song is supposed to be about Waskada, non? Another suggestion was Al Qaeda. Yikes! Not exactly what you'd be going for. Personally, I'm thinking you might want to just forget about this rhyming thing. But who I am to give you songwriting advice? I know that whatever you come up with will be absolutely beautiful - rhyming or not.

3. Inspiration. Hopefully you've had a chance to take a peek at the blog and it's been helpful in showing you some images and descriptions of Waskada. If you want, for additional inspiration, you might enjoy a little visit. And if you do go, the best place to start is Main Street. You could pop in to the Genesis Inn for coffee in the morning and catch up on the news of the day. Check out the other shops on Main Street too - a great place to start to get the pulse of the community. Of course, I would suggest you head up to the school as well. The kids (70ish from K to 12) would be so excited to meet you! They were all voting like crazy for Waskada in the contest, so I'm sure it would mean a lot to them. My mom said you can come over for dinner as well - their place is on the corner of 4th street and Veterans Avenue. You can't miss it! Really... you can't! My mom is a great cook - I would highly recommend that you take a sample of whatever baking is available - pie, cake, tarts, etc. And finally, make sure you catch one of the beautiful sunsets, or sunrises in that big prairie sky. There's nothing better!

Well, I guess I've gone on long enough. Have a great time writing the song - I'm so thrilled that you've been selected to write the song on Waskada and I can't wait to hear the results on November 23! 

From one Plain Jane to another,

Bryna

xo