The Pan Am Games Torch Relay toured through Chatham-Kent on Tuesday afternoon with community celebrations in Wallaceburg and Chatham.
As the torchbearers made their way through downtown Wallaceburg a mini community celebration was held with children’s activities, free food from local restaurants.
Many people came out on their lunch hour to experience the flame up close and personal.
A handful of Chatham-Kent citizens took part in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Wallaceburg’s Michael Verstappen was one of the fortunate to carry the torch.
“I was dropped of at the location in front of the Legion where I was greeted by three members of the Honor Guard with the flags and then proceeded up over the Murray Street Bridge and just on the other side on the corner of Wallace,” Verstappen told the Sydenham Current.
“It was quite a moment to get out of the vehicle and to have that kind of receptive fanfare from the members of the Honor Guard. With the nostalgia of the whole event of the day, with representing the community and of course our country in these kind of events and to be accepted by application was something as well.”
The final torchbearer in town was Wallaceburg’s Lisa Holland.
“It started out here in town at No Frills and went all the way downtown James Street and up over by the Legion, across the Murray Street Bridge and I was actually the last person in the relay so I got to take my time and I did a little dance with the torch before I gave it back.”
Holland added: “It was very surreal. It was quite an experience. I am absolutely grateful and honoured to have been a part of it. The logistics and the organization that they must to put into an event like that is just crazy. It was so well put together and people were very kind, they explained everything so well. They made sure everybody was having fun the whole time. It was very nice, I’d like to do it again.”
Both Holland and Verstappen said being responsible for carrying the torch for a fraction of time was a true honour.
“The flame that was on it at the time was actually the flame that was lit in Mexico. It travels in a lantern across the country and when it’s not in a lantern it’s on our torch and when it’s not on the torch it goes back in the lantern. The flame actually travels by airplane, in a vehicle, with runners and it’s actually been canoed and swam across the river. At the time that you have the torch in your hand and it’s lit, you are the only one that is holding the torch at the time in the entire world,” Holland said.
“At the moment in time you’re representing the whole procession of that Torch from Mexico to Toronto. That was kind of neat too, knowing that for that 200 meters, approximately two to three minutes, that you’re carrying the torch you are the only person in the Nation that is representing the Pan Am Games.”
After the flames left Wallaceburg, it made its trek to Chatham, where hundreds of people spread out across Tecumseh Park for Pan Am themed activities including performances by the Delaware Nation Dancers, precision horseback riding by the Canadian Cowgirls, children’s activities ,and free food.
The Chatham-Kent Canoe Club and Pain Court High School Dragon boat team played a major role in bringing the Pan Am flame and fifteen year old torchbearer Maddie Lavoie to Tecumseh Park, using a dragon boat on the Thames River.
Community torchbearer Juli Elders ran the torch to the stage in the park for a cauldron lighting ceremony and remarks by community leaders, including Mayor Randy Hope.
The torch left Chatham Tuesday afternoon heading south to Windsor.
The torch relay concludes July 10 in Toronto when the cauldron is lit for the Pan Am Games opening ceremony.
Here are some photos by our photographer Nathan Vercauteren:
