A year after the Olympic Torch made its way through the Battlefords, a lasting legacy was unveiled at the North Battleford Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.
An interactive "living legacy" commemorating the Torch Relay and the events of Jan. 12, 2010, when the Battlefords welcomed the Olympic Flame into the community as part of the relay, was unveiled at the museum Wednesday.
The legacy project was designed and put together by a team led by Dean Bauche, former director of galleries for North Battleford, and includes a number of interactive displays featuring videos and pictures from the memorable day when the flame made its way through the Battlefords.
A highlight of the display is a photo booth where people can have their picture taken with the Olympic torch torchbearer Fiona Smith-Bell used to light the cauldron in North Battleford at the event welcoming the relay to North Battleford. That event was held behind the Civic Centre.
Smith-Bell donated the torch to the museum. Digital photography set up at the display allows visitors to stand next to the torch and hold it while a picture of is snapped. Thanks to the magic of digital technology, the picture shows the torch lit up as it would have been during the torch run.
There to unveil the display was Olympic Torch Relay committee chair Laura Allan, who also was honoured by Bauche as the first person to have her photo taken with the torch in the interactive display.
"It's an honor and a pleasure to finally see a project that we've been working on for two years come to fruition. It's amazing, it's beautiful, it's big and people need to come and see it," Allan said.
Plans for a legacy display were made well in advance of the torch relay itself as a way for the community to commemorate the torch celebrations for future generations.
The idea behind the display is "symbolism of the Olympic ideal," she said, with the hope is to inspire others to follow their own Olympic dreams and perhaps be a part of the games themselves one day.
"We wanted it to be a future inspiration for young people," Allan said.
Bauche wanted to create "something that is reminiscent of the torch itself." The display features Olympic colours of green and white, and space was made available in the museum area to accommodate the video-viewing area and the photography booth.
The display received positive reviews from the large number of people on hand for the unveiling, including North Battleford mayor Ian Hamilton, Battlefords 小蓝视频 Len Taylor, and several councillors and other visitors.
"It came together, and it took a while, but I'm delighted with the result," Bauche said of the finished product his team put together. He believes it will allow people a chance to remember the events of Jan.12, 2010.
"A lot of people who were there on that day are going to get a chance to go back and sort of relive those events," said Bauche. He also said it will provide a "snapshot" to people who weren't there.
"In my case, I was at the gallery," said Bauche, who was waiting there to see the relay pass by on 11th Avenue. "In my case, it lets me see all the things that happened that I didn't get to see."
While the focus of the display is on the Battlefords, where over 5,000 people from the region viewed the flame, there is also video footage of relay events from what was the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history.
The Olympic Torch Legacy Project is now permanently on display for visitors to the North Battleford Sports Museum and Hall of Fame. The museum is located in the North Battleford Public Library building at 1392 -101st St.
