Torch Celebration to kick off Alberta Summer Games

The first official event of the 2023 Alberta Summer Games — the Torch Celebration — will make its way through Okotoks and Diamond Valley on Wednesday, July 19, a day before the opening ceremonies of the biennial sporting spectacle. 

Locally-nominated torchbearers will carry the ATCO torch as they run, walk and cycle through downtown streets in both communities. 

Games organizers are calling on community members to line the streets and cheer on the torchbearers as they pass by. 

The Torch Celebration starts in Diamond Valley at 10 a.m. near the intersection of 3 Street SW and 6 Avenue SW. It will head north on 3 Street SW before turning east onto Centre Avenue, where it will finish at the Town of Diamond Valley offices. 

Graham Taylor, a Kiwanis volunteer involved with the Torch Celebration, said three groups of students from Diamond Valley schools will act as torchbearers on the one-kilometre route. 

The relay will resume in Okotoks at 2 p.m. when 16 torchbearers will take turns as the torch makes its way from the Okotoks Public Library to Bill Robertson Park on a 3.5-kilometre route. The relay will head west on Riverside Drive, north on Northridge Drive and then east along Elizabeth Street toward the park. 

Taylor said there won’t be any road closures but there could be some traffic delays as a convoy will accompany each torchbearer. He’s asking drivers to be patient as the Okotoks portion is expected to take between an hour and 90 minutes. 

“We're hoping that they'll be cheering from the sidewalk cafes and the pubs along Elizabeth (Street),” he said. “People can go out for a late lunch and be there to kind of cheer the participants on.” 

Representing a cross-section of the community, torchbearers were selected earlier this year after the Summer Games put out a call for nominations.  

The Summer Games are a sporting spectacle that will see over 3,000 athletes, coaches and officials from throughout Alberta descend on the host communities July 20 to 23. Teams and individual competitors from eight zones across Alberta will compete for provincial bragging rights in 14 sports.