Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Sep 26/01) - A positive message delivered to kids on the wings of laughter. That's the best way to describe the performance of children's entertainer Art Henkel and his twin cousin Willie Wimple.

Art Henkel: Encouraging kids to have a good opinion of themselves. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Hailing from Abbortsford, B.C., Henkel has been travelling across Canada and the United States doing kids' concerts for the past 25 years.

In just the past three months alone, his shows have taken him to seven provinces, one territory and into the U.S.

"I also have three CDs out," says Henkel. "Well, my twin cousin has two and I only have one, but it was nice of him to let me do that one."

Henkel says a local church will usually bring his show into a community, as the Glad Tidings Church did in Rankin Inlet.

He and cousin Willie perform elementary school shows and family concerts featuring music, slight of hand and comedy.

The concerts are geared for six- to 12-year-olds and involve a lot of audience participation, including a group of children joining Henkel to be his kids' choir.

The main focus of Henkel's Born to Win Productions is to get the message across to kids that they can be real winners in life.

The show delivers a positive message to children, which points out that everyone is different and nobody's perfect.

But, he points out, while everyone is unique, with different personalities and talents, they're all equally important in the eyes of God.

"We encourage kids to have a good opinion of themselves.

"I also share the fact we believe God has a good plan for everyone's life and he wants us all to succeed.

"Our faith in God can really help us to be the winner all of us really want to be in life."

Glad Tidings Church Pastor Dan Collado learned of Henkel's show from the Internet and gave the amicable entertainer a call.

After chatting for a while, it was arranged for Born to Win Productions to make its first trip to the Eastern Arctic.

"I've really enjoyed the warmth of the people here and the beauty of the land. We'd look forward to coming back again should the opportunity ever present itself."