Pace on Earth

Light My Fire

The Olympic torch arrived in town on Wednesday and I took in the celebration of its arrival at Officer's Square. There was a great crowd and a great atmosphere; tons of flag waving kids being whipped into a frenzy loud music and, I'm guessing, free cotton candy. Between the MCs ranting* local performers entertained until the main attraction arrived. It had come from the Northside where my good friend Alison Brooks carried it into the school where he is principal at St. Mary's. From there swung past my place, across the Bill Thorpe walking bridge, down Queen st., and finally half a block down St.Anne's Point dr. where Marianne Limpert brought it down a path lined deep with loudly cheering fans to the temporary stage in the middle of square. There she lit a cauldron said a few words and passed it over to the politicians, at which point the people knew the good part was over. So we waited in line to get a photo:Sophie either got shy or decided a picture with the Torch wasn't worth selling out to Coke for. It was a decidely commercial evening but these things cost money so some of it can be excused - although the MC urging the crowd to chant "RBC, RBC, RBC!" was a bit too much. That's not what I took away though; that moment was singing O Canada in a huge crowd with the Olympic flame. And that was the fire it lit for me. Amazingly, Canada has never won a gold medal in an Olympics in Canada - not in Montreal and not in Calgary. I need to be in Vancouver, in a crowd of Canadians, singing O Canada when a Canadian gets to put a medal around their neck. That I gotta see.
After we left the party we went for a beer and ran into a couple hundred torch roadies at Dolan's. They, like me, had Thursday off and, like me, were taking advantage of it. I introduced myself to a few of them and paraded a crew of them over to watch some reggae. They loved it. They were a good crew and if that is even some small taste of the times to be had at their final destination, I want to be there.

Pace out.

Labels: Flashback Friday

posted by Vitamin S @ 3:34 p.m.