Thank you Red Deer and Central Alberta for your amazing participation at the Olympic Torch Run Celebration on Friday night!
It was the most exhilarating and humbling experience of my life to be your community representative in lighting the cauldron.
Words cannot express the feeling we all shared as the flame travelled through Red Deer, carried by great Canadians who embody the spirit of what these Games mean to our community, province, country and the world.
To have been part of this group was special. To have the honour of carrying the flame through the thousands of people who came to celebrate was very humbling.
The event on Friday was probably the biggest community party we have ever had in Red Deer! It was all about the flame and about the people of our community of Central Alberta.
It is amazing that a small flame can bring a community together with such excitement and enthusiasm. It reflects who we are as a community of people who love our country and share in the dream of what the Olympics mean.
All of you who launched the event at RDC, lined the streets cheering the torchbearers, and celebrated at Westerner Park are what made this event so special and successful. We showed the world why Red Deer is a great place to live!
Among the highlights for me was riding on the wagon with the 34 Flames of the Future (young people from our schools) and sharing the torch for pictures with hundreds of you after the ceremony! It will always be a night I will remember.
Thank you to the organizing committee chaired by Lyn Radford, and to everyone who shared the evening.
Our flame burns bright and proud in Central Alberta!
Ron Woodward
Red Deer
Editor’s note: The letter writer is the former president of Red Deer College. He was the final torchbearer in Friday’s celebration.