Interview with THE MANTRACKER

Terry Grant
aka THE MANTRACKER
Visit Terry's Website to learn more (Tracking with Terry)

PART FOUR

We did ask a few questions about “the game” and Terry tells us that many athletic teams try to beat him these days and they are young and cocky. He is friends with most contestants after the game is over. There is one thing I know that The Mantracker said “you can mess with me, but don’t mess with my horse”. He talked about this today saying that “he’d ruff it up with anyone who challenged, this is true, and it is true “don’t mess with my horse”, respect seems to be the main issue for Terry.

We asked him about his search and rescue efforts working with the R.C.M.P. He does not “track criminals”, never. He has assisted with search and rescue efforts. He told us though, that even if it is he himself who finds the victim, it is truly a “team effort”. He says “it has to be a team effort”.
As you may have read or seen reported lately, the Mantracker series is in its final season. Terry said there were challenges going on right now. Terry says OLN want to keep the series going, but without him! As The Mantracker told before, he ALWAYS keeps positive! He shrugged his shoulders and said, “we’ll see”.

Like I mentioned, Terry doesn’t seem to let negativity creep into his life. So, I asked him what he would do after Mantracker. He was quick to respond … “go back to what I did before Mantracker, carpentry, building custom furniture, doing renovations and helping people drywall, and leading the life of a cowboy just north of Calgary”.
(To Be Continued)

Interview with THE MANTRACKER

Terry Grant
aka THE MANTRACKER
Visit Terry's Website to learn more (Tracking with Terry)

PART THREE

I asked Mantracker how he learned respect and the work ethics he has adapted to over the years. He said “once you spend 8 to 10 hours every day out on a horse, come in to do your chores and take care of business, you learn quickly”. Terry tells us that when you are all alone in the bush, you need to be able to take care of yourself, there is no one to rely on but you!.
We asked the Mantracker how genuine he was while filming the TV series, was it just an “act” for the cameras? He quickly responded … “no acting, no script, it all comes right from my heart”.

A question you might not know the answer to is that Terry has never come across any serious danger in the bush. There was a cougar sighting by the “prey” and a black bear sighting, but other than that, nothing exceptional to speak about.
After talking about the youth of today and realizing just how negative our society seems to be (in parts), I asked Terry how he stayed positive. He actually seemed surprised by this question, as if it were a redundant question. He says “I have always been positive. Negativity doesn’t even entre into my life” An example Terry told us, was “if you loose you keys in your house, why get all upset and frazzled, eventually you will find them, they are there”. Another answer to this question he tells us that “I feel is VERY VERY positive … I very seldom say I lost! I’ll say I just didn’t get there first!” We mentioned to the Mantracker that he seemed to be “upset” when he lost to a competitor. He admitted that “you do get cranky if you don’t win the game, especially when you think you should win”.
(To Be Continued)

Interview with THE MANTRACKER

Terry Grant
aka THE MANTRACKER
Visit Terry's Website to learn more (Tracking with Terry)

PART TWO

My next question for Terry started out by asking him … it seems that you respect people who they themselves have respect for nature, horses and other humans. It also seems you respect people who have courage and perseverance. How much do you perceive the youth of today and their concept of the importance of these qualities? With this Mantracker said … “tough question!” “I don’t get to see many young kids and the kids that I see don’t have the skills or work ethic that we had at kids”. He went on to tell me that “when he was a kid, there was no back talk, you went about your day knowing that you had chores to do. If your parents said go feed the chickens, you went, “no backtalk”. Terry said that “Kids today don’t seem to have any kind of drive anymore”. “Kids seem to have poor attitudes and are very cocky. They have no respect for elders and no discipline”. Mantracker totally believes that “kids should “be yourself”, but, that you should learn respect.” He says that “time outs” just don’t cut it” He feels that “parents/caregivers keep treating our kids like kids, “like sissies”, and that the grown ups want to keep the kids, kids. Later, as the kids become young adults and still act like kids, the parents wonder why they act the way they do”. He says “the kids are not taught to respect, be mature and aren’t learning to care and fend for themselves”. Terry was raised in Creemore (near Staynor, Ontario), with his Uncle who stepped in for his Dad. At the age of 10 he lived with his grandparents until he was 17 when he moved to Alberta.
(To Be Continued)

Interview with THE MANTRACKER

Terry Grant
aka THE MANTRACKER
Visit Terry's Website to learn more (Tracking with Terry)

PART ONE

It was with great anticipation that the Festival Nomad and I sat in the boardroom at the Lindsay Agricultural Society Exhibition grounds during their recent event “All About Horses”. Bev Roy, event organizer, had arranged for us to meet and interview none other than The Mantracker! Terry Grant was appearing for both days at the show, to sign autographs and talk. If you are horse lover and a lover of adventure and excitement, you will know The Mantracker! He appears on the television series Mantracker on OLN.

I gave a great deal of consideration to the questions I was going to ask Terry. I wanted my INSIDE SCOOP interview, with The Mantracker, to be different from others. When asked one particular question, even Terry said... “that’s a tough question”! Here is my interview.

I asked the Mantracker if he thought his “talent” was a dying art! He said that “it is a dying art! Through my efforts of the television series, it has just has brought it up to the top of the water”. He does as much educational training and workshops, but, cautioned that, in his words, “I can teach anybody to track, but you have to go into the bush and us it!”
(To Be Continued)

Interview with Laurie Siblock (Part Five)

Laurie Siblock
Special Events & Community 
Lang Pioneer Village Museum

I asked Laurie if she could share some “problem solving techniques” used during a special event! (For example … a bus load of visitors that were not planned for, weather conditions, volunteers/staff being absent due to unforeseen emergencies, running out of “treats” during an event, etc.) … She tells me … “One thing that you can count on when running big events is that something is going to go off the rails. To help ensure a great event, I do what you can to plan in advance for “unforeseen” events. I make sure that I consider a rain plan. A back-up plan for every aspect of the event that could be affected by rain needs to be detailed in advance and communicated to the people involved. You hope you don’t have to use it, but you’re sure glad you’ve got it if you need it. It is also important to prepare in advance for medical and/or fire emergencies. Senior staff at Lang Pioneer Village are trained in First Aid response and Defibrillation (in the event someone on site has a heart attack) and seasonal staff are trained in how to contact First Aid Responders. Having a well-thought out Fire Plan and extinguishers throughout the Village and staff and volunteers who are trained in how to use them are also important. Finally making health and safety a priority in the Village helps cut down on smaller accidents. Statistics show that organizations that are able to reduce the number of small accidents also show a corresponding lower rate of serious incidents. In terms of how we handle volunteers and staff not making it into work, the critical thing about the Special Event Task List is that, should someone not make it into work for an event, all we have to do is look on the list for what that staff/volunteer was responsible for and divvy up the tasks to ensure that everything that person was responsible for gets done. In any emergency or challenging situation, I think the most important thing is to keep a level head and get as much information as you can given your situation. Listening and having clear lines of communication can go a long way to diffusing an emergency or challenging situation”. With all of these great suggestions, tips, words of wisdom and experience, my final question to Laurie was how far in advance did she “plan”. I know the answer in part because as a volunteer at Lang, I have been busy cutting out material for a craft project these past few winter/spring months for their Spooky Halloween Event in the Fall. But, Laurie does say that …“As I’ve been in the Special Event and Community Liaison position for almost five years now, I’ve increasingly been able to plan further and further ahead. My first year in the position, I was just one step of the event in planning. That was a stressful situation. Now, four and a half years later, it’s January and I’m doing all the bookings for musicians and community guild and demonstrator groups for all the events for the season. Why today I was even planning the Halloween event kid’s craft activity!” And, that my friends, is this edition of THE INSIDE SCOOP!

Interview with Laurie Siblock (Part Four)

Laurie Siblock
Special Events & Community Liasion
Lang Pioneer Village Museum

Getting “THE INSIDE SCOOP” focuses on specific questions that may help festivals, events, organizers, and others interested in SUCCESS in their endeavors! You are very good Laurie at problem solving, managing people and as hectic as it is with all the chaos you seem to maintain your professionalize and composure. With 10+ people at a time calling out your name with questions at peak moments during an event (problems that need immediate answers), you still seem to manage. It is my understanding that you have a system to help you stay organized … could you share some of your “secrets” with us! Laurie tells us … “The single most important thing that I do to stay organized is to write EVERYTHING down. Even the most mundane and seemingly small things get written down on a Special Events Task List and each item on the list is assigned to a particular person so that one person is taking responsibility for that item. It’s amazing what can fall through the cracks when no one in particular is responsible for making something happen. For example, I’ve heard of a culinary event at which, after all the guests had gone home, the organizers discovered that the desserts hadn’t been served! As an event organizer, I’ve got to think of every last detail to support each aspect of the event. EVERYTHING needs to go into the task list right down to who is bringing and setting out soup spoons to accompany the soup. Getting everything down, assigning ownership and then checking in with people to make sure things are on track are very important before every big event”. “In order to organize volunteers for events, all volunteers complete a Volunteer Availability Form at the start of the season on which they indicate which Special Events they wish to help with. I use that list to fill volunteer needs for each event and contact each volunteer weeks prior to the event to ensure they are still available and to discuss their role at the event with them. I also have a database, Volunteer Works, which tracks what skills and knowledge volunteers have so that when I need a volunteer who can spin, for example, I can look up in my database and see who might be able to help with that. I know the volunteers quite well, so most of that is in my head anyway, but it is important to have it down so that if I am not here someone, who may not know the volunteers, could easily take”.
(To be continued)