Canada Games Plaza was alive this afternoon (Wednesday) with the sound of music and plenty of smiles as a Party in the Plaza was held, showcasing some Prince George enthusiasm for the 2030 Special Olympics Canada Games Selection Committee.
“We managed to start off at UNBC early this morning, we welcomed the bid committee from Ontario, and they’re here from Special Olympics Canada and we’re going to start to continue our journey through the city, showing them the sports venues” said Volunteer on the Bid Committee Lyn Hall.
“Had an opportunity to have lunch here at the Civic Centre just to have an idea of what it looks like all set up.”
Hall said coming into this week’s visit, the Bid Committee was always feeling good about the bid.
“It was about just putting the best bid package together that we possibly could that would really make it difficult for them to say no, and you work from there,” he said.
“I think that we were able to show them today some real highlights of 2015 Games, the 2022 Games, and the 2025 Games that we just finished a couple of months ago.”
Seen throughout the plaza on t-shirts, banners and flags was the slogan “We’re ready.”
“It came about just through conversation around the bid committee group and people throwing suggestions on the table, and that’s how it really started,” Hall explained.
“We fell to that because we really wanted to send a strong message, and we are ready, we’re ready to put them on, we have the experience, we have the facilities, we have the volunteers, and we have people of Prince George get quite geared up to be able to participate in having national or provincial games and we’ve proven that over the last number of decades.”
In terms of the bid, Hall added this process is a bit more work than for the 2025 B.C. games.
“This really is a little bit more involved, particularly from a financial perspective, particularly from partnerships, and there’s competition that we have to go up against to be able to win the right to hold these games,” he explained.
“So the groups that’s come in from Special Games Canada, they’re looking at all the fine tuning that needs to be done for them to be able to put on and be comfortable with the games at all of the facilities.”
In addition to UNBC, the Civic Centre, and the CN Centre, Hall said the committee will be taking a look at a number of venues, all for the same sports that were played in the 2025 B.C. games in Prince George.
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