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Two hundred communities being asked to host celebrations for 2010 torch |
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Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
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VANCOUVER - Two hundred Canadian communities are being asked by Olympic organizers to host parties for the 2010 Winter Games torch relay.
The communities are among the 1,000 stops the torch is expected to make in the 100 days before the Vancouver Games.
They were chosen because they are population centres with the ability to draw support from surrounding areas, said Jim Richards, the director of torch relays for Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC.
"These celebrations really are cornerstones to the engagement locally of Canadians across the country and what we hope to be the largest continuous celebration we've ever seen," he said.
There will be two celebrations a day, one at noon and one in the evening.
The names of the communities aren't being released until the fall, when VANOC will also make public the official route for the relay and how people can apply to be torch bearers.
The torch is scheduled to cover 35,000 kilometres.
Richards said the cost of the celebrations will be born both by VANOC and by the communities themselves.
Olympic organizers will provide the infrastructure, he said, like a stage, lighting and technical support.
The communities will provide the content.
"We've tried to put together a scope that allows every community, regardless of size, for them to host a celebration without going into great fiscal requirements," he said.
In RCMP documents released to the group 2010 Watch, one of the concerns raised by officials over the budget for the Games was that funding for securing the torch relay hadn't been accounted for.
According to those documents, communities would have to bear that cost themselves.
A final budget for securing the Games hasn't been released.
Richards said at this point municipalities are simply being asked if they want to host the celebrations.
They have the right to say No.
"It's very much an asking, and it's really a dialogue," he said.
"We certainly don't want to be telling anyone that they have to do it."
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 May 2008 )
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