WVIA will premiere "Our Town: Tamaqua" Monday night at its public media studio.

The program, filmed in April and May, is meant to be a "video postcard" of the borough according to vice president of advancement strategy Joe Krushinsky."We heard memories of the past blossom into present day," said Krushinsky. "Tamaqua is a town that honors and celebrates its heritage, and is leveraging the strengths and fruits of its past."The program will showcase Tamaqua and its institutions such as fire companies and faith congregations from the perspective of residents interviewed at Zizelmann's Funeral Home in April and the Scheller Center at Lehigh Carbon Community College in May.Residents also provided PBS with film clips and photographs.Some of the interviewees include Bill Moyer, president of St. Luke's Miners campus; Cindy White, pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church; Leona Rega of the Tamaqua Community Art Council; and Art Connelly, former fire chief of the Tamaqua Fire Department.PBS also was assisted in the project by the Tamaqua Chamber of Commerce, Lehigh Carbon Community College and the Tamaqua Rotary Club, among other institutions in the town.Tamaqua was founded in 1799 and based its economy primarily in coal. Tamaqua was also the site of the first commercial railroad to transport coal by steam engine in the nation.In 2017, Tamaqua is a town that honors and celebrates its heritage, and a community that builds on the strengths and fruits of its past. Loosely translated from a Native American tribal name, Tamaqua means "land where the beaver dwells in the water."Today the people of Tamaqua are proactively creating the future of the town. With strong energy and innovation in the arts, in education, redevelopment, recreation, volunteerism and historic preservation, Tamaqua is hard at work, and showing it has heart.The "Our Town" series has documented towns such as Ebensburg, Penns Valley and Lewistown in the past. The series aims to showcase different personalities and histories of local towns.Each hourlong segment highlights a community as seen through the eyes of its residents, featuring people, places and things that speak to the heart of the community.The program will premiere at 8 p.m. Monday night on WVIA-TV with an encore presentation the same night at 10 p.m. It will also broadcast Tuesday at 2 p.m.