Lethbridge Twinning Society celebrates 30th anniversary

The Lethbridge Twinning Society started with a single sister city in 1989, and as recently as five years ago, added its fourth.

On Tuesday, the society celebrated 30 years of reaching out across the world.

“We have four sister cities… one is in Timashevsk, Russia, the other is in Towada City, Japan, and we have one also in Great Falls, Mont., and the first one we had was with Culver City, Calif.”

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Representatives of all four sister cities were present in Lethbridge on Tuesday evening to celebrate.

READ MORE: Winnipeg celebrates Chengdu, China sister city relationship with millions of LED lights

The impact of the four relationships was discussed over dinner, followed by a concert by Japanese musician Makoto Sakurada, who hails from sister city Towada City.

Sakurada has toured Alberta before, even performing in Lethbridge, and he said he’s noticed one main similarity between the two cities.

“Uhh, well little bit of snow… cold,” Sakurada laughed. “Similar like this.”

“I’m so glad to celebrate, thirtieth Twinning Society… Lethbridge,” Sakurada added.

The musician even jumped behind a keyboard on stage during Tuesday’s dinner and before his concert to sing to the diverse crowd.

Sakurada’s city of Towada is home to around 60,000 people, and since the twinning in 2001, they have sent countless numbers of students to Alberta to study English and learn about a different culture.

Pereverseff said he thinks 30 years in, there’s still lots to like about the work the society is doing.

“Although we have 30 years behind us, we’re looking forward to the 30 years ahead of us, and I know we can do it,” he said.