Lucky Day 13, Barrie to Owen Sound

Day 13 of the 2015 Pan-Am games torch relay. Today we headed straight form Barrie to CFB (Canadian Forces Base) Borden. This is actually the third time I have been fortunate enough to visit this base.

The lawn ornaments here are a little different.



Our meeting point today was at a French catholic school on the base.

A little display on the relay situated just inside the main doors.

If you zoom in on this pic of Saint Marguerite Bourgeous you can see this portrait is made of pictures of all the students in the school. 

A small but important group of torchbearers at the base. One was a 28 year veteran who is now a trainer, two were current soldiers, one has 12 years service in the reserves, and one is a teacher at the school.

As we waited for to drop off our first torch bearer we could see the school kids, dressed in green, getting ready for the flame to come by.

Their exuberance was contagious

and who is that bike escort today? None other than my partner and host, Hayley, who got a very nice change of pace for a day.

On the other side of the street was another French school on the base. They were also out in full force showing the relay spirit.

Very cool to see the soldiers out supporting their own torch bearers.

It was an honour to be on the base today. 

Our second meeting point was in the town of Meaford (population about 11.000). Meaford is located on Nottawasaga Bay, a sub-basin of Georgian Bay and Owen Sound Bay.

Looking good outside of the town hall. (note the sign on the lamppost, they were up all over town)

The downtown core was a heritage masterpiece

The tribute to the soldiers, apparently there is an armed forces base outside of Meaford.

Before our meeting we had time for a little lunch at the Leeky Canoe.

downtown Meaford

random Meaford alley shot

Our meeting was close to the bay. Wow, no wonder they call it cottage country around this area. What a place to holiday.

Nice enough to have an outdoor meeting.

Always a proud moment

Hey, those aren't torches! We had a sponsor stop at a President's Choice (relay sponsor) grocery store, and they were having a little celebration. So I grabbed some of freebies, frozen yogurt bars and handed them out to the torchbearers. (Marilyn, who is usually a bike escort, did an excellent job as a host today.)

This girl surprised us all. After she ran with the torch, she showed up with a calf from her farm, and that turned out to be "THE" photo op of the day!

After, we headed for our home away from home for this evening, in Owen Sound. (population around 22,000)

I finally got to see an end of day celebration, and it did not disappoint. Our sponsors CIBC and OLG put on a great show, lots of energy. At 7 p.m. every night, the final torchbearer of the day runs up on stage and lights the cauldron.