Joey Payeur
The show is coming together.
Planning for Saturday’s arrival of Chicago Blackhawks’ defenceman and former Fort Frances resident Duncan Keith, along with his recently-won Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy, has been a work in progress.
Larry Patrick, a member of the organizing committee, said the day is for everyone in the community but, first and foremost, for the youngest segment of the population.
“I was stopped by a member of the public and asked if this day is just about the kids,” noted Patrick.
“I replied it’s for everyone but the kids are the focus.”
The doors of the ’52 Canadians Arena will open at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday in advance of the opening ceremonies, which are scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m.
“We encourage people to get there early and to wear some kind of jersey or sports T-shirt—it doesn’t have to be one of the ’Hawks,” stressed Patrick, who promised an opening ceremonies “filled with glitz and glamour” that will be “scintillating.”
“If a lot of people show up, there’s a possibility they could be disappointed when it comes to getting good seating,” he warned.
Priority seating for about 450 people on the floor of the arena will be given to youth first.
Event volunteers on-site will determine if a child is young enough to need a parent or guardian to accompany them or whether it will be sufficient to have that older person sit in the bleachers as close as possible to the child.
The ceremonies, which will include Keith addressing the crowd, will wrap up around 10:30 a.m.
A 15-minute question-and-answer session involving Keith and local minor hockey players has been scrapped to allow for more time for what should be a highly-popular autograph and picture session on the arena floor (not the Memorial Sports Centre auditorium as previously reported) that will last until 12:15 p.m.
There will be three tables set up in different sections of the floor.
One will be where Keith will be signing autographs (limit of one per person) and getting pictures taken with the public.
Those shots will be taken exclusively by Sheila Helm of Shine Photography free of charge, with prints to be mailed out at a later date.
“No cellphones or personal cameras of the public will be allowed at that table because of time constraints,” Patrick said.
That won’t be the case at the other two tables, with the Stanley Cup at one and the Conn Smythe Trophy (denoting Keith’s selection as playoff MVP) at the other.
Members of the public are allowed to take their own pictures at these tables, although the lines will be monitored by event volunteers to make sure as many people as possible get a chance to have a picture taken with one or both of the trops.
Meanwhile, those not able to reach the front of the line to see Keith before the end of the session won’t walk away empty-handed.
Everyone in the line will receive a pre-autographed double-sided picture of Keith—featuring him raising the Stanley Cup on one side and accepting the Conn Smythe Trophy from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on the other.
Keith then will take a break from the day’s festivities to attend a private lunch with family, invited guests, and committee members in the lounge at Boston Pizza.
One lucky youth age 16 or younger will be chosen from a draw being put on by Boston Pizza to win the right to sit at Keith’s table during the luncheon.
Contestants can get in on the draw by dining at Boston Pizza, putting the prospective winner’s name and phone number on their meal receipt, and then dropping it into the “Lunch with Duncan Keith” draw box on site.
The draw will be held tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Boston Pizza.
After lunch, Keith will embark on a tour of Fort Frances beginning at 1:30 p.m. that will stop at personal points of interest he selected.
The tour will wind up around 4 p.m. at the Couchiching Arena (“The Duke”), where band members will hold a brief ceremony and make a special presentation to Keith.
Look for a full-length article featuring an interview with Duncan Keith in tomorrow’s Daily Bulletin.
