2024 Ontario Winter Games officially kick off in Thunder Bay
Opening ceremony held Friday at Fort William Historical Park with competitions happening all weekend
The 2024 Ontario Winter Games are underway in Thunder Bay.
While competition in some sports began Friday morning, the event officially kicked off Friday evening with an opening ceremony at Fort William Historical Park.
Hundreds of athletes, who are competing in various sports over the weekend, took part in a parade around the park's main square, while a large crowd of supporters waved glowsticks and cheered them on.
Among them was Thunder Bay's Anna Rozic, who's 13-year-old son Anton is wrestling in this year's games.
"He's super excited," she said, adding Anton has been wrestling for a couple of years. "We're super pumped, really excited. We're just ready to watch him."
The Rozic family will be cheering on Anton with help from signs handmade by his younger sister Adrijana.
"I think he's gonna do good," she said, with a big smile.
The Rozics weren't the only family showing support for an athlete at Friday night's ceremony.
Jennifer Melchiorre also has a son competing this weekend; in her case, the sport is futsal, a fast-paced, five-a-side version of soccer played on a hard surface, such as a basketball court. During the 2024 games in Thunder Bay, futsal is being played at the Lakehead University fieldhouse.
"This is actually the first time that the boys will be entering a futsal tournament," she said
"So we're pretty excited to see how we do."
Friday's ceremony also included the lighting of the games cauldron in the fort's main square. The night was topped off with a free outdoor concert by the Lockyer Boys.
Shawna Rodrigues was also among the supporters attending Friday's ceremony. She was born in Thunder Bay, but has since moved out of the country; in fact, this is her first visit back to her hometown in more than a decade.
"With COVID it wasn't possible to travel," she said. "I thought of coming this year, and I wanted to see the winter again."
"Then I found out that there was going to be the Winter Games in Thunder Bay, so I said: 'OK, that's a perfect opportunity to come back at this time of the year.'"
As for the sports she plans on watching during the games, curling is at the top of the list.
"It's a traditional winter game from Canada, so I've never seen it live," Rodrigues said.
The Ontario Winter Games were last hosted in Thunder Bay 50 years ago.
"It's hard to believe," said Diane Imrie, the executive director of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. "When I spoke with some of the athletes who competed at those events, they were saying that they couldn't believe it was 50 years ago."
The bulk of those games took place from Dec. 27-30, 1974, Imrie said, and included 15 events (skilling competitions were held two weeks later).
Those games drew about 1,300 athletes, and Imrie said an estimated 40,000 people came out to watch the competitions.
"At the time, it was reported as the largest sporting event ever held in Thunder Bay up to that point," Imrie said. "There was turnaway crowds at some of the locations."
This year's games will also be split up, with competition taking place across two weekends: Feb. 16-19, and Feb. 23-26.
A second opening ceremony will also be held on Feb. 23 to welcome athletes for the second weekend.
Admission to all events is free, and a full schedule can be found on the Ontario Winter Games website.
