HAL, BBC team for premiere Lewiston showing of 'Risking Everything'

Documentary details Lewiston's role in Underground Railroad

Emmy Award-winning photographer Izzy Bleckman worked for CBS News for decades and was the cameraman who filmed the Charles Kuralt "On the Road" series. He also took the iconic video of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

For the past several years, Bleckman and his wife, Mary Roseberry, have been working on a documentary about Lewiston's role in the Underground Railroad and the creation of the Freedom Crossing Monument by sculptor Susan Geissler. Roseberry is a retired professor of journalism and literature at Niagara County Community College.

The Historic Association of Lewiston is bringing Bleckman to Lewiston to screen the 33-minute film, which is titled “Risking Everything.” The documentary will be shown at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, in the Brickyard Brewing Company second-floor banquet hall, 436 Center St., Lewiston.

Admission is free, and the public is invited. The room is easily accessible and an elevator is available.

The BBC also will donate $2 from every drink purchased at this event to HAL.

•This will be the second collaboration between HAL and the BBC this winter. “The Morgan Affair” murder mystery dinner is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the restaurant. WNY Improv will stage the show, which is now sold-out. More than 150 people are expected to attend.

For more information on HAL events, call the Lewiston Museum at 716-754-4214.

•On Wednesday, March 13, the BBC will hold another one of its famous candlelit dinners as part of “1812 Night.” The event will offer old-world beer, food, music and merrymaking. For more information, visit http://brickyardbrewingcompany.com/.

Historic Association of Lewiston members Bruce Sutherland and Ken Slaugenhoupt, right, chat with Eric and Steve Matthews, top, and Ken Bryan, below, of Brickyard Pub & B.B.Q. and Brickyard Brewing Company. Shown behind them is the Freedom Crossing Monument.