Emmy-winning documentary helped by locals

By Doug Rapp, Staff Writer

February 19, 2009 10:51 pm

— Fourth graders at Washington Catholic Elementary may be used to seeing small gold statues for their athletic awards but they got to see bigger, more well-known gold statues Thursday.
Emmys.
Gary Harrison, an independent producer from Indianapolis, came to Laura Allison’s fourth grade class to show clips from his documentary work, along with his three Emmy awards. Harrison won an Emmy in 2007 for his documentary “The Wabash: Life on the Bright, White River.” Portions of the river documentary were shot nearby in Martin and Knox counties.
Harrison has also won an Emmy for best magazine program and shared an Emmy win with former Indiana first lady Judy O’Bannon for a public affairs series.
Harrison, 54, showed clips from his documentary show “Across Indiana,” a weekly 30-minute program that explores interesting people and places across the state, and the Wabash documentary.
“I’ve come to talk to you about my job,” said Harrison, whose work is primarily shown on WFYI in Indianapolis. “My job is to go out on adventures.”
He showed clips of himself at Indiana Beach, a crash-up derby and muskie fishing.
“I got paid to go fishing, not bad,” Harrison said, as footage of him and a fishing guide played on the television next to him.
Harrison showed a clip of him riding an antique tractor owned by a man who collects them.
“Anyone ever seen a tractor before?” Harrison asked as almost every hand in the class went up.
He showed other clips, including a “forklift rodeo” in Jasper, a lawn mower pull in Clarksburg and himself rappelling in Orange County.
“Do you think I have a cool job?” Harrison asked. The class answered yes in unison.
Harrison then showed part of his Wabash River documentary. Local people featured in the documentary attended the presentation, including naturalist Harold Allison, Steve McCullough, Jennifer Davis and her daughters, Hannah and Katie. Allison’s knowledge and familiarity with the river helped him a lot, said Harrison, and he met McCullough canoeing on the Wabash.
“The great thing was meeting people like Steve and Harold,” Harrison said before the presentation. “It’s the people you meet along the way. That’s my message with any of the work I do. It’s the people you meet.”
Harrison said the hour-long Wabash documentary was the brainchild of the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission, a state group that seeks to protect and enhance the natural and cultural resources along the river corridor.
“They wanted to spread the word about the good the Wabash can do, how it can affect your lives in a positive way and how it needs your tender loving care to keep it going,” Harrison said.
Harrison said he usually doesn’t do school presentations of his documentary work but this was a special request.
“If I can create any kind of good community relations by going out and talking to people, I’ll do it,” he said.

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