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Last year I was part of a team that recorded a video that went viral. Kelowna is Happy ended up being a bit of a sensation on the UN 24 Hours of Happiness website.
We had an amazing time doing an impromptu recording by literally putting a call out on Facebook on the Friday evening to see if people would meet us in downtown Kelowna to dance to a song and we would figure out what to do in terms of locations and record it.
I didn’t really know any dancers, but, with Kelowna being what it is, the connections started happening and Saturday morning came around with a group of people waiting for us on Bernard.
It was freezing cold, nobody had any clue what they had turned up for and all wore an amazing smile. We became friends and produced a video that Pharrell Williams himself decided should be one of a handful that he selected for a UN website.
I said I would never do it again. Largely because of the barrage of stupid comments that occurred on local forums debating that Kelowna was in fact not a happy place! It wasn’t even a debate actually, it was largely anonymous forum trolls who had nothing better to do that sit behind a screen and moan.
Then, a year later I received a call from Lucy who was the catalyst last year. “Bruno Mars has a video that everyone is dancing to and it is going viral again” she said. That was last week. I am too busy I thought, we can’t repeat what we did last year. I had enough excuses to convince anyone we should not do it and then my head changed gears and I started making calls. The dancers were in, YLW jumped on board when I suggested we use their location, so many people offered to help and so yesterday, we launched the second (and perhaps final!) dance video - KTown Uptown Funk. We had a fantastic time and the results compare to last year's video. Here is the video:
Before you run to your computer, log on and start moaning about Kelowna being an unhappy place, I want to share with you something that I taught my children when they were about six years old, and they got it…. happiness has nothing to do with “how you feel”. Happiness has nothing to do with what happened to you. HAPPINESS IS A STATE OF MIND.
Happiness is a decision. Despite your circumstances, you have the power within you to decide to be happy. The day goes a lot better that way.
All of the participants, volunteers, dancers or innocent bystanders made a decision to show the world that once again, Kelowna is one of the happiest places to be and in particular, arrive (at YLW). A big shout out to the ladies at the Tourism Kelowna booth at the end who really helped make the video in my opinion. They were totally enthusiastic about getting involved and showing the world how we make them feel when they arrive at YLW.
Enjoy the video and stay happy!
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
