GREENE – Fran Reidelberger will present his film, “The Erie Canal,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, and 2 and 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, at the Sawyer Memorial, 371 Sawyer Road. Admission is free and doors open one hour before shows. For more information, call 946-5311.

Reidelberger has been chasing mountains to see what’s on the other side since his childhood days in Nashville, Ill.

He was a schoolboy basketball player and said his prime motivation was not the roar of the crowd, but the opportunity to travel. His major studies were history and journalism at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., and Central Michigan University.

The U.S. Navy gave him an opportunity to continue his travels – from coast to coast of the United States and throughout the Far East with stops in Hong Kong, Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines.

He was also stationed at Pearl Harbor for two years, and it was there that he began a 14-year career in daily newspaper work. He started as a cub reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and ended as editor of the Decatur, Ill., Herald and Review. He won a number of awards for writing, editing, newspaper design and creative use of news photos.

Reidelberger is married to the former Brooke Metcalf, daughter of the late James W. Metcalf, travel film producer and lecturer. Brooke was a magazine photographer and travel consultant. Together the Reidelbergers joined the travelogue profession in 1977.

When not traveling the world, the Riedelbergers make their home in Grayling, Mich.

“The Erie Canal” was filmed and produced by the Reidelbergers, scripted and narrated live by Fran Reidelberger. The Reidelbergers travel the canal system from Albany to Buffalo, sailing in the wake of history, enjoying the tranquil beauty, attending the festivals, visiting the old canal towns and wondering what the country would be like if the canal had never been built.