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The 45th Telemiracle is going higher this weekend.
It’s also going into new territory.
Gone is the live audience. The performances are pre-recorded. The show has a smaller cast. Even the stage is in a different location to ensure everyone in attendance is physically distanced.
“I really think that, from home, a lot of it is going to come across as the Telemiracle people have come to know and love,” said Regina entertainer Jeffery Straker.
As a part of the 20-hour telethon broadcasting live from Saskatoon this year, Straker understands the challenges COVID-19 has presented to the annual show in 2021.
“It’s a tricky endeavour to do something differently that’s been done a certain way for 44 years,” he said.
Straker said he played a different show online recently and it now seems ordinary not to hear any reaction.
“For the first time it felt completely normal, sadly, to have no audience response after the song and I realized, ‘Oh my god, I’m actually used to this,’ ” Straker said.
While this year’s edition will be much different, a lot of effort was made to maintain the history of the telethon.
“With it being an anniversary show, the producers have informed us that there are going to be some throwbacks to a lot of previous moments and previous cast members possibly calling in,” said chair Brian Angstadt.
The yearly show raises funds for the Kinsmen Foundation. That money is used to help people in Saskatchewan pay for specialized medical equipment or get access to life-saving treatment and to assist those who have to leave their community and travel for their needs.
Brittany Caffet and her family have benefited from the fundraiser.
About a year ago they were in Edmonton for their son Henry’s open-heart surgery.
“Going out of province for an open-heart surgery, there are a lot of associated costs for the family — travel, accommodations, meals. Telemiracle took care of all of that for us,” Caffet said on the Brent Loucks Show on Friday.
“With every $10 donation that someone makes, you’re buying a meal for a parent or a kid who is in the hospital.”
Telemiracle begins online Saturday at www.telemiracle.com at 6:15 p.m., followed by the TV broadcast on CTV starting at 9 p.m. The show wraps up Sunday at 5 p.m.