The town is going all out to celebrate when the MNP torch relay for the Canada Winter Games comes through Olds on Jan. 31.
The 2019 Canada Winter Games take place Feb. 15-March 3 in Red Deer.
On Jan. 31 the town is hosting a Celebrate Sports Day in conjunction with the torch relay.
In addition to the torch run, a wide variety of sports and activities will occur in town. Events are planned all day, starting as early as 8 a.m. and going as late as 7:45 p.m.
The goal is to highlight as many of the 19 different sports that will be showcased during the Games as possible.
Tentative plans for activities include synchronized swimming involving the Olds Grizzlys junior A hockey team, judo and gymnastics demonstrations, and several free drop-in events at the CLC Fitness Centre including racquetball and squash.
Other events include speedskating, curling, torch relay races, a peewee Grizzlys hockey game and a ringette demonstration.
Most of the action occurs at the Sportsplex, but as noted, some takes place at the CLC Fitness Centre and the Olds Aquatic Centre.
The torch relay itself is slated to begin at 4 p.m. from the Sportsplex. Participants will run in a route that takes them in a big tour of Olds that includes 50th Avenue, Shannon Drive, 57th Avenue and 52nd Street.
If the weather does not cooperate, the relay will go through a "condensed route focusing in the Uptowne area" according to community facilitator Jennifer Lutz.
Torchbearers slated to run through Olds during the relay include Mayor Michael Muzychka; Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen; well-known local bottle collector Jon Ahlgrim; Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper; Olympic wrestler Danielle Lappage; Robert McBeath, brother of the late local hockey and lacrosse player Ryan McBeath; Special Olympics athlete Mark Mengersen; former NHL player and volunteer fireman Jay Rosehill; plus former Olds College president Tom Thompson.
Town officials are hoping local businesses will get involved by doing things like decorating their storefronts, offering hot chocolate or coffee on the route, or helping to promote the event.
The relay is expected to arrive back at the Sportsplex at about 5 p.m., at which time an approximately 25-minute celebration will be held, featuring speeches by provincial, Indigenous and municipal representatives as well as a Canada Games board member and a representative of MNP, the torch relay sponsor.
The Games will feature as many as 3,600 athletes, managers and coaches competing in more than 150 sports competitions.
"We hope the entire town will come out to support the torch relay runners and are excited to promote sports and local athletics," Lutz wrote in a message to local businesses.
