A man presents his reccomendation to Mayor Watson and the Ottawa 2017 task force during Sunday’s forum
Mayor Jim Watson, the Ottawa 2017 task force and local residents met at city hall Sunday to discuss how to make Ottawa a more exciting place for tourists during the upcoming 150th anniversary of Confederation.
Ideas presented at the forum include breaking Guinness world records, a race-weekend facelift, and even creating “crop art” to welcome incoming passenger planes.
“Sometimes Ottawa can have the reputation of being a straight-laced government town,” said Watson, introducing his proposal. “But as many of you know, that is not the case. In a few months we’ll be inviting all members of our community to break Guinness world records.”
Watson called for schools, businesses, labour organizations and individuals to work towards the goal of breaking 150 world records by the end of 2017. He said he’s spoken to Guinness representatives in New York and “Ottawa would be the first city to complete such an initiative,” making the accomplishment itself a world record.
According to Watson, corporations such as the Ottawa Senators and Bell Capital Cup have already committed to the project. Throughout the afternoon, many speakers jumped aboard, coming up with ideas that included running the world’s largest lacrosse game, holding the largest dragon boat race, or creating the largest serving of poutine, which would have to weigh just over 654 kilograms to break the existing record.
“We could have a lot of fun with this,” said Watson, adding that it would be a unique opportunity to “get young people engaged and get excitement going.”
Sharing the excitement was John Halvorsen, race director of the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. He suggested a re-branding of the marathons that bring thousands of runners and tourists into downtown Ottawa every year. He said that the 2017 race could carry a sesquicentennial theme across all of its banners, water stations and concession stands.
The available food may also be changed to reflect Canadian history and culture, bringing in salmon, poutine and even beer or wine. Finally, Halvorsen suggested having members of the RCMP hold the finishing-line ribbon and maintaining a larger presence throughout the entire weekend.
Ideas related to sporting events were a recurring theme throughout the forum. Glenn Duncan, vice-president of sales at Ottawa Tourism, said when it comes to sports, Ottawa should “bid more, win more, and host more.”
Aaron Robinson, director of fan and community development for the Ottawa Senators, pointed out that 2017 will also be the Stanley Cup’s 125 birthday. He said that in 2017, Ottawa should host the wildly successful outdoor NHL Heritage Classic and reclaim the record of having the most teams participate in the Bell Capital Cup.
A proposal that could directly affect Centretown came from Aaron Cayer, creator of the non-profit Ottawa Community Skateboard Association. Cayer has tried to hold three separate fundraising events downtown that were all called off because of public drinking bylaws. He called for Watson to “relax bylaws and partner with small businesses and organizations.”
Watson emphasized the sesquicentennial’s potential economic impact on Ottawa. He compared it to Quebec’s 400th anniversary in 2008, which made the province hundreds of millions dollars. The mayor set the goal of attracting an extra 1.75 million visitors to Ottawa in 2017. To do that, he said the capital needs to ensure that “2017, and Ottawa, and Canada are synonymous with one another.”