Canada Games Celebrates Nova Scotia Day

The Halifax 2011 Canada Games Host Society celebrated Nova Scotia Day today, Feb. 16, at Grand Parade in Halifax to cap five days of free public events and activities to mark the One Year Countdown Celebration to the Games.

It was also Nova Scotia Day at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Monday evening more than 300 media, delegates, business leaders and expats attended a friends and family reception hosted by the province at Atlantic Canada House. Today, Premier Darrell Dexter hosted a breakfast meeting for business contacts and tourism media, showcasing the province and the 2011 Canada Games. A news conference is planned to promote the province to international media.

In Halifax, local celebrities and friends of the Canada Games gathered at the Grand Parade for a ball hockey tournament, complete with medal ceremony. The lunch-hour crowd was treated to music from DJ Plaeboi, refreshments, and prize draws.

A large video screen featured messages from Premier Darrell Dexter and HRM Mayor Peter Kelly as well as a virtual tour of the Canada Games Centre, being built on the Mainland Common, and a 2011 Games countdown clock.

Sackville Heights Elementary School students wished everyone a happy Nova Scotia Day live from their gymnasium via Skype. Seventeen HRM-area schools caught the spirit by hosting a Canada Games Day.

As well as the Grand Parade festival, a dozen other free sport activities took place across the province including at Ski Martock, Dartmouth Sportsplex, Amherst Stadium, Digby Area Arena, Queens Memorial Arena in Liverpool, Bowles and Gray arenas in Dartmouth, and the Lebrun Centre in Bedford.