The Big Bear Lake International Film Festival Honors Ron Seymour With “Community
Appreciation Award”
Appreciation Award”
The Big Bear Lake International Film Festival (BBLIFF) is pleased to announce that local entrepreneur and Channel 6 TV Host Ron Seymour will be honored at the 2007 Film Festival with a “Community Appreciation Award” in gratitude for his many contributions to the community.
Traditionally, the Festival honors professionals from the Hollywood movie industry with “Lifetime Achievement” tributes in various categories ranging from acting to writing. Since 2003, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography has also been given to an outstanding professional each year and has become an annual feature of the Festival. These highly coveted awards will continue to be a highlight of the September 14-
This is not the first year that a community award has been given at the Festival. Such presentations were made in the early years. However, it has not happened for several years and the Festival Board felt it was long overdue. It is the positive contributions of the Big Bear community that have enabled the Festival to grow successfully over the past eight years. The time is ripe to honor one of our own local legends, Ron Seymour. Seymour can be spotted at most any event in the Valley as “the man behind the camera.” In fact, Ron has attended and compiled memoirs from almost every Big Bear Film Festival.
On Friday, September 14, during the BBLIFF Gala dinner and awards presentation held at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center (PAC), the spotlight will be on Ron. Friends can recognize Ron’s achievements through tribute ads available in the program schedule booklet.
For more information on the Festival or to purchase tribute ads for Ron, contact a Festival representative at 909-
It isn’t just the locals that will have noticed “Ron Around Town.” For the past seven years, Ron has covered just about every event, large or small, in the Valley for his Channel 6 TV show. It seems his video camera is always rolling as he records Valley activities. His interviews alone are a mini chronicle of recent Big Bear happenings. Ron has kept all the tapes he has made over the past couple of years, including an archive of over 1000 interviews. He estimates that he has done over 6000 interviews in seven years. The math could be faulty but that averages roughly 2 ¾ interviews per day. And it’s all on “reel” time when Ron’s around.
Ron has a long history in Big Bear. His folks purchased a vacation home here in 1929 for $2000. Practically from his conception, he has considered himself a local, spending holiday weekends and vacations here. He loved the area so much that he eventually became a full time resident, leaving the hill only when he joined the Air Force during the Korean War. He laughingly says, “I joined the Air Force to see the world, and then spent all four years just down the hill at March Air Force Base.” It wasn’t a bad gig through; he wrote speeches for the Commanding Officer of the 15th Air Force.
Seymour, who has a degree in Business Administration and Communications from San Diego State College, also has in his words, “a knack for knowing what will go in Big Bear.” He founded a number of businesses in the area and most are still active enterprises. One of his early endeavors in the 1950’s was Stillwell’s Skyroom, a steakhouse and bar featuring live entertainment, located on the property that is currently B’s Backyard BBQ. His next venture was the North Pole Fudge and Ice Cream Company in the Village. He owned and operated the highly successful ice cream and candy company for three years before selling the business and moving on. It was back to the beef when he opened the Cowboy Steakhouse which he run for several years before passing the reins to his son who keep things in the black for another five years before selling it. His entrepreneurial touch continued with the opening of Sandy’s Sports Bar which he sold after two successful years.
Seymour moved down the hill and spent the next twenty years in Chamber of Commerce management for three different chambers. He moved back to Big Bear in 1980. Not one to rest on his laurels, he launched another new business, this one in communications. He started the Big Bear Shopper which he sold to the Grizzly Newspaper after personally running it for 14 years. The Shopper kicked off the debut of “Round Town with Ron.” Recently, he started BigBearNews.com, one of the nation’s first all internet newspapers. It was sold after three years as the active senior started his next adventure, his TV6 featured show “Round Town with Ron.” Local cable TV and Ron seem to be a perfect fit because as he says, “I love this Valley and I love this job. It’s not work, it’s all fun. I get to attend all the events and meet everyone.”
Seymour has been windowed for 35 years. He has three children and 13 grandchildren who he visits often. “I love kids,” Ron says. He points out, “They are like little sponges soaking up everything. That’s why if there is a child around when I’m filming; my camera will always be on them.” Smile, it isn’t just kids that are immortalized on Seymour’s candid camera when Ron’s around town.
The Big Bear Lake International Film Festival is held annually on the second weekend in September. The festival is a non-
