In more ways than one, youth from across the province will be keeping the energy high during TeleMiracle 49 in Saskatoon this year.  Danika Dinko, TeleMiracle Executive Director, says this year’s slate of SaskTalent is full of youth, the youngest performer being just seven years old.

“We have a variety of SaskTalent acts. We have eighty this year, which is a huge number, and we are so thankful. We have everything from singing and dancing to magic, spoken word, and just about anything you can imagine in between.”

TeleMiracle also runs a series of school contests.

“We have a tee shirt design contest, a video content creation contest, colouring and drawing. That’s one of the ways we get youth involved. Schools and teachers are a huge component of that, and they do a lot of fundraising for us just as school groups.”

Dinko adds that young people are engaged in other ways as well. Post-secondary students studying production at Sask. Polytech and The Recording Arts Institute of Saskatoon are given the opportunity to train on set.

A ‘hype squad’, made up of young dancers or cheerleaders, has also been added to the production in recent years to keep youth involved in the telethon.

“TeleMiracle is generational. Many young people know about it because they spent years watching it with their parents or their grandparents. It’s just one of those Saskatchewan things.”

To get families involved, the association is also partnering with Old Spaghetti Factory in Saskatoon for Telemiracle Tuesday (Jan 28). Prices took a jump back in time to 1970, with meals starting at $1.75, and proceeds being donated to TeleMiracle.

This year’s TeleMiracle 49 hosts will be Beverly Mahood and Brad Johner, accompanied by others such as Jeffery and Jill Straker, Ashley Callingbull, Dione Taylor, and Lisa Franks, among others.