I was just in Prince George over the weekend to watch the Coldsnap Festival at the Canada Winter Games.
This was actually my first time spending some quality time in Prince George (not including the times I was passing through on my way to Burns Lake of course).
In order to explain how great my experience there was, I must first admit that my expectations about Prince George were not very high. Let me explain… I first heard about Prince George when I was living on the other side of the country and was reading a Maclean’s magazine article. The article said that Prince George was the most dangerous city in Canada (so not a great first impression). I was also afraid that Prince George would be too similar to Prince Albert, S.K., a place known as the ‘Gateway to the North’ with high crime rates and, in my opinion, not very friendly people.
But I am glad to say I was positively impressed! Prince George has been doing a great job hosting the Canada Winter Games. The city has been providing free bus rides, quality concerts free of charge and fireworks every night. Not to mention the thoughtful signs welcoming athletes placed all across the city, and the friendly vibe of locals and dozens of volunteers.
The best part of it was that I could tell by people’s expressions that hosting such an event was important to them. People I spoke to seemed thrilled about the games and excited to have visitors from all over the country. Locals patiently took the time to give visitors directions, and were excited to talk about events in town (they even seemed happy to take my picture while I posed awkwardly in front of the Canada Winter Games torch).
The music festival is also a good reflection of how the city is welcoming visitors. Although people were out in the cold watching the concerts (thank goodness it wasn’t -30 C), the crowd was still energized, giving performers a very warm welcome. One of the bands asked the crowd to jump sideways to their right for 30 seconds, then to their left, and then asked them to sit on the floor and sing along. Surprisingly, everybody did it (except for me, but someone had to post that video on You Tube).
It’s definitely a great thing that Prince George is representing Northern B.C. so well, making sure all athletes and tourists are having a great experience, just like I did. But having the games in the city is certainly not great for everybody. While hotels and airlines are making extra cash, taxi drivers got the worst end of the deal with the free bus rides (I was told by a taxi driver).
And two local girls are giving Northern B.C. lots of reasons to be proud.
People in Burns Lake also have high expectations for Elise Dube, Lakes District Secondary School student. Elise is getting ready to shine in the second week of the games in the snowboarding competition. She will compete in parallel giant slalom on Tuesday Feb. 24, and snowboard cross on Feb. 28.
Emily Dickson, who is originally from Burns Lake but has lived in Prince George for the last three years, earned four medals in the first week of the games. The talented teenager earned bronze, silver and two gold medals. Dickson took bronze in the 12.5 km biathlon event; silver in the 7.5 km female biathlon; gold in the biathlon 10 km pursuit; and the second gold in the female 3x6km relay race.
Week one of the Canada Winter Games came to a close with a very successful performance from Team B.C., earning 41 medals. Team B.C. sits third in the medal count, three behind Ontario and two ahead of Alberta. Quebec leads the medal standings with 83 medals.