Prince George, B.C.- The Canada Winter Games Bid Evaluation Committee was very impressed with the bid effort by Prince George.

 

Chair of the Evaluation Committee,  Piers McDonald,  says the committee was impressed “I think it was clear from the Bid Committee’s proposal that the Bid Committee had done a lot of work and had been very thorough and very thoughtful about understanding the details and the issues that they needed to cover. When we arrived I think we were able to put a lot of things into perspective, first of all just physically, just how intimate the proposal for the athletes village, the whole idea is there is a core in the community that is to be used for the Games so there will be a very strong Games feel in the community, not all spread out, so that was very impressive.”

 

He says even facilities that are outside the downtown core were impressive, but the community enthusiasm was a key point “It was great to see people showing up in the middle of summer time with toques on, expressing support for the Games. That was very impressive.”  

 

McDonald says during the bid process there were questions about some things, but those questions have been answered and provided a very good response in virtually every case “It shows the Bid Committee is able to react well to suggestions and change and having been a host society president in the past those are absolutely necessary qualities.”

 

The bid committee didn’t miss any details, from the fully logo painted bus ( at right)….. 

 

 

 

 

…to the “We Are Winter” scarf draped around the neck of the black bear that’s on display at the airport, the Evaluation Committee  saw community support at virtually every turn.

 

While the City will be releasing more details of its bid this evening when it shows the Bid Video to City Council and then posts that video on the City’s website, some of the details of what occurred today have been revealed;

 

The Bid evaluation Committee is now on it’s way to Kamloops, and while McDonald won’t say   Kamloops and Kelowna have a tough act to follow, he does say the Prince George effort was very good indeed “I can say we were extremely impressed with what we saw today. Anecdotally, talking to other members of the committee, the bar has been set very high here. You have a very strong committee here with very experienced people who have done a lot of work, that’s obvious. More importantly, you can feel the heart of this community that’s a very significant factor for us.”