TREMONTON – By Cari Doutre – May 1, 2020
Bear River Live, a community live streaming media company, will be airing a special video tribute to the season of Bear River High School that never was – spring 2020.
This spring, Bear River Live was unable to fulfill their scheduled live streaming broadcasts after the state of Utah dismissed all public schools for the remainder of 2019-2020 school year on March 13, 2020. The Utah High School Activities Association followed the state’s recommendations and cancelled all 2020 spring sports and activities starting March 16.
These decisions were made in relation to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic to prevent further spreading of the virus in Utah. The virus is now a world-wide pandemic and has claimed the lives of 46 Utahns. As of April 30, there are 4,672 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Utah.
On April 13, the UHSAA officially announced that the spring sports for the 2020 season will not be made up this summer - or at all. Record books will show that the season basically didn’t happen – because it didn’t.
What that meant for Bear River High athletes, coaches, families and fans, was the end of a season that never fully had the chance to even begin. It also meant the end of high school sports for those seniors set to graduate from Bear River High in 2020.
“We were really sad about spring sports being cancelled and have been a little lost,” said Jessica Tanner, co-owner of Bear River Live.
The company is owned by Andy and Jessica Tanner, both graduates of Bear River High and both sports fans. Bear River Live officially started fall 2017.
Since then Bear River Live has expanded coverage, added more features to broadcasts and better viewing options for Bear River High sports fans. They even branched out into the world of broadcast journalism.
With the support from many generous local businesses, Bear River Live was ready to unveil a few new features to their broadcasts starting this spring. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen.
So instead, Bear River Live started a new weekly broadcast called Flashback Friday. With Andy in front of the camera, instead of his usual spot commentating behind the camera during live streaming broadcasts, Bear River Live tried something new.
“Our Flashback Friday segments aim to highlight the athletes we cover as well as our advertisers who make what we do possible. It started as a way to reminisce about the good old days until sports were back in full swing,” Jessica said.
Those broadcasts, which started on April 3, aired every Friday night at 7 p.m. Bear River Live replayed footage from previous years’ games and included Bear River baseball, softball, boys’ and girls’ lacrosse and boys’ soccer. It also gave Bear River Live an opportunity to thank their generous sponsors.
In addition to airing Flashback Friday games, Bear River Live started a new segment with a new local digital news company, The Valley Headliner – BRVNEWS.com. These segments gave The Valley Headliner an opportunity to recap the week in news, sports and other events that were published on their website, BRVNEWS.com.
Bear River Live, The Valley Headliner – BRVNEWS.com and Andy Marchant Photography have formed a community partnership to offer Bear River High sports fans the best multi-media sports coverage.
To finish their Flashback Friday broadcasts for the spring, Bear River Live has produced an emotional and riveting video that looks further into the sports season that never was. It is set to air Friday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at www.brlivestream.com/live and will be livestreaming on their Facebook page.
This video will include never before seen interviews with spring sports coaches at Bear River High as well as the school’s Athletic Director Van Park. Aerial drone footage was provided by Andy Marchant Photography.
Also included in tonight’s final Flashback Friday broadcast will be a weekly news recap from The Valley Headliner – BRVNEWS.com and will end with a Bear River High softball game from the 2018 4A state finals against Spanish Fork High. Spoiler alert: the Lady Bears won.
“We know others are missing it too, so we decided to make a video to highlight this unique time. We are thankful to all our supporters and were looking for a way to give them a shout out and to instill some hope. We hope this video accomplishes that,” Jessica said.
“It was really hard hearing it was over, but we’ve seen so much good throughout this process and a lot of resilience in these kids who have had a lot taken away from them,” she added.
Can’t watch Bear River Live’s live final Flashback Friday on May 1? Don’t worry, it can be watched anytime after on their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/bearriverlive
