Winnipeg Free Press
Disney celebrates Winnie movie at Assiniboine Park
By: William Burr
FOR Disney, a new animated film about Winnie the Pooh is a return to basics. For Winnipeg, it's a celebration of this city's part of the story.
On Saturday, there will be a Winnie-themed Family Fun Day at the Assiniboine Park Nature Playground as a lead-up to Disney's film, which was made using traditional, hand-drawn animation, as with classics Fantasia, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
Bryn Knox, a marketing executive with Disney, said it's an appropriate way to treat a tale that has been a children's classic for decades.
Disney Canada decided to hold the event in Winnipeg because Winnie is named after the city. The film will be launched in Winnipeg, but not screened in theatres until July 15.
"We're always looking for Canadian connections in our films," Knox said. "That was what we wanted to seize on."
On Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., kids can enjoy activity stations with colouring pages from Crayola, puzzles from Danawares, and a Duplo station from Lego.
Winnie the Pooh activity booklets will be given away, and for the very young, there will even be Huggies Winnie the Pooh diaper samples.
Winnie was a real bear, an orphaned cub picked up in White River, Ont., in 1914 for $20 by a young veterinarian, Lt. Harry Colebourn, on his way to Quebec and eventually the First World War. He named the bear after Winnipeg, where his regiment was based.
When Colebourn was camped at Salisbury Plain, preparing for trenches of Flanders, Winnie stayed in Colebourn's tent and slept under his c o t. She -- yes, she -- became the official mascot of the regiment.
Winnie ended up at the London Zoo, where she was seen by a young boy, Christopher Robin Milne. His father was A.A. Milne, the author of the Pooh series.
Disney celebrates Winnie movie at Assiniboine Park
By: William Burr
FOR Disney, a new animated film about Winnie the Pooh is a return to basics. For Winnipeg, it's a celebration of this city's part of the story.
On Saturday, there will be a Winnie-themed Family Fun Day at the Assiniboine Park Nature Playground as a lead-up to Disney's film, which was made using traditional, hand-drawn animation, as with classics Fantasia, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
Bryn Knox, a marketing executive with Disney, said it's an appropriate way to treat a tale that has been a children's classic for decades.
Disney Canada decided to hold the event in Winnipeg because Winnie is named after the city. The film will be launched in Winnipeg, but not screened in theatres until July 15.
"We're always looking for Canadian connections in our films," Knox said. "That was what we wanted to seize on."
On Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., kids can enjoy activity stations with colouring pages from Crayola, puzzles from Danawares, and a Duplo station from Lego.
Winnie the Pooh activity booklets will be given away, and for the very young, there will even be Huggies Winnie the Pooh diaper samples.
Winnie was a real bear, an orphaned cub picked up in White River, Ont., in 1914 for $20 by a young veterinarian, Lt. Harry Colebourn, on his way to Quebec and eventually the First World War. He named the bear after Winnipeg, where his regiment was based.
When Colebourn was camped at Salisbury Plain, preparing for trenches of Flanders, Winnie stayed in Colebourn's tent and slept under his c o t. She -- yes, she -- became the official mascot of the regiment.
Winnie ended up at the London Zoo, where she was seen by a young boy, Christopher Robin Milne. His father was A.A. Milne, the author of the Pooh series.
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