Only thing ‘on ice’ is the confetti
Volunteers, organizers gather on what would’ve been Memorial Cup Day 1
Aparade featuring hockey players and veterans should have rolled through downtown Kelowna on Thursday. Grand plans for the start of the 2020 Memorial Cup, which was to have been held in Kelowna before the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation, included a colourful opening ceremony at Stuart Park on the downtown waterfront.
After a salute to the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Memorial Cup was to have been brought onto the podium at the south end of the park, hoisted high for all to see.
A moment of silence was planned in memory of all those who’ve lost their lives while serving the country, and then several confetti cannons were to have been set off, showering the crowd.
“The parks department cringed at the thought. But never fear, the confetti is environmentally friendly,” Wendy Falkowski, who was to have been chairwoman of the opening ceremonies, said Thursday.
Also Thursday, members of the ill-fated organizing committee released the video which helped secure Kelowna the right to host the Memorial Cup during a multi-city bidding process in September 2018.
The round-robin tournament, featuring the winners of the three Canadian junior hockey leagues plus the host Kelowna Rockets, was to have begun Thursday and continued until the championship game on May 31.
It was estimated the Memorial Cup would have had an economic impact of $10 million to $15 million on the area, which was part of the rationale behind the city’s decision to contribute $225,000 toward the staging of the event.
Tom Dyas, who headed up the Memorial Cup organizing committee, said big crowds — inside Prospera Place, but also at pubs and restaurants, and at a Waterfront Park concert featuring country star Brett Kissel — would have been a fun and dynamic aspect to the tournament.
“There’s a feeling you get being around friends and among other people at a sports event or a festival,” Dyas said. “We crave that connection, and of course it’s not there at the moment.”
Dyas and about 20 other volunteers were to gather for a group photo shoot, while keeping their distance of course, last night at Prospera Place.
“It’ll be a keepsake,” he said. “For what might have been.”
There has been talk of Kelowna hosting the 2023 Memorial Cup, but the Canadian Hockey League has not yet opened the bidding process.
Next year’s event is to be held in Ontario — either Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie — and the tournament shifts to Quebec or the Maritimes in 2022.
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