Rogers Hometown Hockey fever has officially hit Chatham-Kent.
To commence the two-day event, a Hometown Hockey flag was raised at the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre on Tuesday. Mayor Darrin Canniff had the honour of raising the flag while accompanied by players from local minor hockey associations.
"That's what its all about here, all the kids playing hockey. We've got thousands of kids playing hockey in Chatham-Kent. Let's celebrate that, let's celebrate all our hockey teams across Chatham-Kent," said Canniff.
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The weekend-long event takes place in downtown Chatham on December 15 and 16 and will include a wide variety of free activities for all ages.
Highlights on Saturday include live music, a chance to see the Stanley Cup, a family-friendly outdoor rink, and autograph signings by Dave Gagner and Tomáš Kaberle.
Similar events will take place on Sunday and the festival will be capped off by a live pregame show with Hometown Hockey hosts Tara Slone and Ron MacLean and then an outdoor viewing party of the Tampa Bay Lightning vs Winnipeg Jets game at 7 p.m.
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"This is national exposure," Canniff said. "1.5 million plus people will be watching this broadcast, so we need to show the spirit of Chatham-Kent. People will look at this from across the country and say 'Chatham-Kent, what an amazing place'."
Several roads will be closed to accommodate the event, including Wellington Street West between Third Street and Fourth Street, Forsyth Street between King Street West and Wellington Street West, and Fourth Street between Wellington Street West and Llewellyn Street. Those sections of the roads will be shut down from 8 a.m. Thursday, December 13 until 8 a.m. Monday, December 17.
Anyone attending is encouraged to carpool or use public transit. A special bus service will run on Sunday between 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Even though the bulk of the action will take place in Chatham, other communities will be getting in on the fun as well.
On Saturday at noon, Dresden’s Lambton-Kent Memorial Agricultural Centre will officially become the Ken Houston Memorial Agricultural Centre, followed by dinner and dance that night featuring a sports memorabilia auction and the chance to hear stories from NHL alumni who played with Houston.
Thousands of people are expected to flock to Chatham to take part in the weekend. Many of them will be wearing hockey jerseys and they won't be the only ones. The Chatham-Kent Police Service announced on Twitter that it has authorized anyone in 'support units' to wear hockey jerseys on December 14 for #JerseyDayInCK.
For more information on all the events taking place and the best places to park this weekend, click here.
