First 'Up With People' Cast Member Arrives, All 100 Expected in a Week

The first member of the “Up With People” cast has arrived in Hamilton a week ahead of the arrival of the full 100 member cast.

Emmy Blomkvist  of Sweden has been a member of the cast since January but came to Hamilton two weeks ahead to serve as an intern with . She’ll rejoin the crew when they leave Hamilton and spend until December with Up With People and travel to Mexico, Philippines and Taiwan, among other locations.

The full cast of Up With People with arrive in Hamilton on Sept. 3 and spend a week in the public schools before at .

And when they all get here, there’s a lot of fun planned to match up the cast members with their host families.

Host families and cast members are each given a “host code” that represents the local area. The host family is asked to show up with a way to convey that code to the arriving cast.

For example, Ashley Wright, one of Up With People’s promotions representatives, said her host family’s code in Denver was Dolly Parton and they showed up dressed as the county music singer.

“We try to make it as much of a spectacle as we can” Wright said. 

It will happen on Sept. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the and .

Blomkvist, 22, finished the Swedish equivalent of high school – studying multi-media and sciences - before entering the workforce for a few years.

But she knew she wanted to join Up With People when she joined her mother at an Up With People cast reunion.

“That’s how I knew about the program,” she said. “I saw the strong friendships they had after 25 years.”

Blomkvist said she’s hoping to get to know Hamilton and Wenham – plus all of the North Shore – better than most places she visits since she’ll be here for three weeks.

"In general I usually stay for one week," she said.

The cast that Blomkvist will perform with just finished up a week on Cape Cod and will spend the next week in Newburyport.

Sergio Campos, an Up With People promotions representative, said that some tickets for the Hamilton shows have been sold so far. In addition to being available online, tickets are also available at ,  and Henry’s Market in Beverly.

One of the host mothers, Lori Johnson of Hamilton, just happened to stumble on an interview Blomkvist was doing with Hamilton-Wenham Patch last week at the Starbucks in North Beverly.

Johnson said she remembers seeing the Up With People show 20 years ago in Beverly and thought she would like to be a host family.

“I always thought that it was something neat to do,” she said.

Johnson said she is excited to see the show and noted she will be attending with her 90-year-old dad, who is also excited.

There are enough host families for every cast member that is coming, but if anyone is still interested in being a host family there is space available.

“We’d like to space them out as much as possible,” Wright said.

Anyone interested in being a host family can call her at 907-687-5885 or by e-mail at awright@upwithpeople.org.