Reimagine Medical Lake to make historical documentary film

Residents and visitors will someday get a chance to learn more about Medical Lake’s rich history.

Reimagine Medical Lake, a grassroots organization that is looking to preserve the city’s past, as well as prepare it for the future, is creating a documentary that chronicles the city’s history, specifically stories from residents related to pioneer families that came to Medical Lake in its early years.

“The stories of founders such as Andrew Lefevre and Stanley Hallett have been told, and that’s important, but we have the opportunity to tell the stories of the pioneer families,” Gerri Johnson of Reimagine Medical Lake said. “Medical Lake was built on the back of these pioneer families. Their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren still live here.”

Johnson is a longtime Medical Lake resident and one of the group’s subcommittee members putting the documentary together. She, along with other committee members have been collecting interviews, photographs and other materials from local multi-generational residents. The committee is also working with the Medical Lake Historical Society and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture to gather artifacts.

“This is the most elating thing that I have done, the pioneer families are so excited that we want to tell their history,” Johnson said. “Since starting this project, I have already heard several stories, including ‘my family came to the area in covered wagons.’”

Ben Cabido, who is the community-based economic development director for Community Minded Television, is overseeing the storyboarding and production of the documentary. Cabido has lived in Medical Lake for six years and decided to help make the documentary as a personal and business project. He shares the group’s desire to tell the stories of the pioneer families, as well as document the historical landmarks in the area. He added that the documentary is looking to show people that Medical Lake is more than just the city where Eastern State Hospital is located.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to see people living here come out and saying ‘I love my history,’” Cabido said.

The documentary was planned to be 60 minutes, but Cabido and Johnson said it will most likely develop into a miniseries in order to include all of Medical Lake’s history. Cabido said the trailer for the documentary will be out in the next two months. The estimated project time to complete the movie is around 4-6 months.

“Right now we’re still seeking some interest from families to see how they would like to get involved with the funding and the development of the documentary,” Cabido said.

In addition to telling the stories of multi-generational families, Johnson said the documentary could be a tool to help guide the city toward its future.

“Sometimes understanding your past helps you to move forward,” Johnson said.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].