The Evening Times-Globe, Saint John, N.B. Monday, August 26, 1985

Our Games End With A Bang

Click here to see full size. Proud New Brunswickers - Members of Team New Brunswick parade at the closing ceremonies of the Canada Games on Saturday. New Brunswick finished high than ever before in Canada Games competition. Athletes won three gold, four silver and seven bronze medals and accumulated 119.5 points in the standings, finishing seventh overall. N.B. also won the Pelek Trophy for outstanding sportsmanship.

A lone commissioner combing among the rows of benches was all that remained this morning of the 12,000 people who packed the Canada Games Stadium at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John Saturday to mark the offical closing of Jeux Canada Games 85.

In the centre of the now-still field, two workers were piling litter into a tractor-drawn cart where 1,500 athletes, 700 dancers and dozens of Canada Games officials and dignitaries had crowded around a stage to end what many consider the most exciting two weeks in Saint John's 200 year history.

Saturday's crashing barrage of daytime fireworks was echoed by the hammers of carpenters who by this morning had already torn out most of the stadium's 8,000 temporary bleachers, leaving 4,000 permanent seats that will be inherited by UNBSJ when the university takes over the facility from the Canada Games Society later this week.

The colorful ceremonies brought to a close two weeks during which civic pride swelled in Saint John as the Canada Games and the Festival By the Sea, a cultural extravaganza which brought vibrancy to the city's uptown, were roaring successes - assisted in part by almost perfect weather.

Salutes Organizers

Gov. Gen. Jeanne Sauve, in Officially closing the games, saluted the Canada Games organizers and supporters for the "rare and wonderful formula" they had developed to create "a truly Canadian event."

Premier Richard Hatfield said: "Wow! What a celebration" the two-week event had been.

Mayor Elsie Wayne said the Canada Games - featuring 3,300 accompanying Festival by The Sea - with 250 performers, artists and craftsmen from across Canada - had produced memories of "an enchanted two weeks."

Richard Oland, president of the Saint John Canada Games Society, said: "Only once does a city our size have a chance to show what we can do - I believe we have done it."

Their comments came in speeches during the two-hour and 15-minute ceremonies in which Ontario was honored as the team accumulating the most points during the two weeks of competitions; Manitoba got the Centennial Cup as the team with the greatest improvement over its performance in the last Summer Games four years ago; and New Brunswick was the first recipient of the Jack Pelech award as the team displaying the best sportsmanship.

The closing ceremonies, held under mostly cloudy skies but in warm temperatures, were in many respects more relaxed and less formal than the official opening 13 days earlier and it was the athletes who set the pace when they paraded onto the field in laid-back fashion early in the show.

It continued when the thousands of spectators briefly delayed the ceremonies as section after section in the stands performed a wave, preventing the masters of ceremonies from carrying on with the program.

And, it climaxed when pandemonium reigned as the athletes, dancers and officials crowded into the centre of the field in a montage of smiling faces, waving hands, and provincial flags.

The sometimes-deafening fireworks display exploded over the Canada Games Stadium as a prelude to the pandemonium on the field that saw athletes, dancers and Canada Games officials and dignitaries crowded together on and around a stage in the centre of the field in a spirit of friendship.

Clouds of smoke from the fireworks drifted into the stadium and later cleared as the young dancers, who had performed in a long ballet in a series of concentric rings to Ravel's Bolero, suddenly rushed over to the north side of the stadium and grabbed the hands of athletes and brought them to the circular stage.

Then Canada Games hostesses led some of the Canada Games officials and Wayne onto the field and they were joined later by members of the 300-voice Canada Games choir in their red and white robes and Hugo De Pot of Montreal, the producer and director of the opening and closing ceremonies. De Pot was embraced by several of the young dancers he had trained for the opening and closing.

And the New Brunswick rugby team took up a position at the side of the field to perform their tongue-in-cheek ritualistic homage to their team mascot Mr. Banana - kneeling and bowing in elaborate fashion to the stuffed toy.

A handful of New Brunswick athletes vaulted, over the fence surrounding the spectators from the field and shook hands with some of the audience before being shooed back onto the field by Canada Games officials.

Earlier, when the athletes and the Festival By The Sea had paraded onto the field at the start of the closing ceremonies a female member of the New Brunswick team was halted by security when she tried to leave the parade to present a flower to someone in the VIP section.

That was in contrast to the opening ceremonies when three New Brunswick athletes rushed unchallenged into the VIP section to shake hands with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his six-year-old son Mark.

Also in contrast to the opening ceremonies, the athletes from the 10 provinces and two territories weren't grouped into teams for the procession.. Things were more casual as is traditional in closing ceremonies of large multi-sports events. Players from the various teams were scattered throughout the parade.

The parade was led by Saint John Town Crier John Cail; Fiddle Edd, the mascot of the Saint John Canada Games; Digger Gull, a giant seagull character complete with mining pick, which is the mascot of the Canada Winter Games to be held in Sydney, N.S. in 1987; and Heidi and Howdy, two giant polar bears which are the mascots of the 1988 Winter Olympics to be held in Calgary.

After the Royal Canadian Artillery Band and the sign- and flag-bearers came the athletes as the thousands of spectators clapped in rhythm to the martial music.

The athletes were led by some of the Manitoba team, including lacrosse player Wade Derkson, who hobbled along on crutches. At least one other athlete in the parade also was on crutches. There were athletes strolling along arm in arm. At least two girls got rides on the strong shoulders of male athletes. One Newfoundland athlete wore an outrageous Iroquois hair cut, sunglasses and a big grin.

The B.C. team had a large sign that read: "Thank you."

Alberta's sign said: "Thank you Saint John."

And there were others.

Some athletes tossed hats, pins, frisbees and seat cushions to the spectators.

During the ceremonies, Oland presented the Canada Games flag to Dr. Carl Buchanan, president of the organizing committee for the 1987 Canada Winter Games to be held in Sydney, N. S.

And the Canada Games flame was extinguished and the Roly McLenahan Torch was passed from New Brunswick by athletes Tarek Raafat of Saint John and Jane Williams of Sackville to Nova Scotia athletes David MacLeod of Sydney and Patricia MacCormack of Sydney.

New Brunswick Youth and Recreation Minister Leslie Hull presented the Pelech award - named for the president of the national Canada Games Society - to New Brunswick athletes Krista Burris of Sackville, Chris Flood of Saint John and chef de mission Suzanne Mason. And the New Brunswick athletes, who had rushed across the field to stand in front of the VIP section, and some in the crowded chanted "NB, NB, NB" as the trophy was held high by the three recipients.

Pelech presented the Centennial Cup to Manitoba and Ontario received the Canada Games flag award as the team with the most points in the Canada Games from Sauve. Ontario piled up 225 points, and finished. 11 1/2 points ahead of second-place Quebec. In recognition of Ontario's accumulating the most points, eight Ontario atheletes had the honor of carrying from the stadium the Canada Games flag which had flown over the stadium during the two weeks of competition.

Oland said that during the games Saint John had shown itself to be "the greatest little city in the East." Every day during the two weeks of competitions, one quarter of the city's population attended Canada Games events, he said, and 5,800 volunteers gave freely of their time to make the big show a success.

He said the games have left "a positive and long-lasting heritage of human and physical resources" and had been a unifying force in Canada.

Wayne said she was "thrilled" with New Brunswick's performance. The team had three gold medals, four silver and seven bronze and finished seventh among the 12 teams in the point standings with 119 1/2 points.

While New Brunswick did not have the greatest number of medals in the games, "we sure came out a winner all the way," the Saint John mayor said.

The Canada Games had been a special event and the Festival By The Sea had been "the ultimate in sharing," Wayne said.

The city has a legacy of thousands of volunteers who are ready to make the community a better place to live, $15 million worth of new facilities to train New Brunswickers for national and international competitions and "a legacy of friends from across Canada." Saint John, she said, had been "recharged like an old battery and nothing can stop us now."

Hatfield congratulated the athletes and the Canada Games organizers, including the thousands of volunteers. He singled out the hospitality of the people of Saint John, Grand Bay and Renforth - sites of the Canada Games venues - and said he was proud of the work by Hull, the youth and recreation department, provincial sports governing bodies and New Brunswick coaches. He said New Brunswick's performance was its best ever in Canada Games.

As a result of the 1985 games, he said, New Brunswick will have the facilities to mould future Canadian Champions.