News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

By LeRae Haynes 

The Olympic torch ceremony in Williams Lake has been described as one of the largest events ever hosted in the city, with close to 6,000 people on the Stampede Grounds. Hundreds more lined Broadway Avenue from the Laughing Loon to the grounds, cheering on the torch procession and the runner with nearly deafening enthusiasm. 

(Photo: Kim Emsley-Leik, Event Coordinator for the City of Williams Lake, said that organizing the Olympic torch ceremony was a true highlight in her life, and one of the most memorable events in the history of the community.)

The event required months of planning, organizing and hard work, and when Chief Administrative Officer Brian Carruthers and Manager of Economic Development Al Madrigga asked Event Coordinator Kim Emsley-Leik to look after it, she knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. 

She said that she started working on the project in the beginning of September, and that it took hard-working committees and lots of coordination. “I was really impressed when the community latched onto it with such enthusiasm,” she explained. “I had an email distribution list of about 2,500 people. I really pushed the deadlines: all the advertising was done by the end of December. I knew what all the graphics would look like and had all the press releases pre-written. 

“I had some great people to work with, such as Dave Dickson, Mike Hacker and the whole RCMP security team. They provided excellent leadership. Fred Thomas and Kevin Goldfuss were always on time and on task—they were first-class to work with and very good communicators,” she continued.   

“There was lots of support from some of the schools---Mike Grace, Kelly Cuthbert and Kelvin Parent did everything they could to get students involved, and I saw the biggest energy from the kids. 

“I found the people from the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) to be unbelievably professional---I was thoroughly impressed with them. They were very organized and detailed, but when they rolled in on that Thursday at 11:30am for this huge, historical event I was a little worried. I was afraid that it was too quiet and that we wouldn’t get the crowds,” she said. 

“We had done everything we could to promote the torch ceremony, and thought we might get a thousand people. We didn’t want a thousand people in the grandstands, though, with the torch runner coming down to an empty stage area, so during the day we cordoned it off and sectioned off the seating.”  

She said that the response was amazing. “As more and more people showed up, we cut the ribbons in the grandstand and opened up the sections. This was one of the most memorable moments in Williams Lake. 

Kim got her start organizing events in high school, she explained, beginning with Mr. Chernoff’s student council in Grade 9 at Williams Lake Secondary School. She helped organize the BC Leadership Council in Whistler, did fundraising for grad events in high school and got involved with student government when she went to university. 

Before returning to Williams Lake, she organized political campaigns in the Vancouver area, for people like Michael Ignatia, David Emerson and Joyce Murray, and said that it gave her transferrable skills to use in organizing the torch ceremony.  

“I think the big appeal for the Olympic torch ceremony was that it’s about Canada. It makes people proud: it’s all about youth and pride and joy and passion,” she said.  

“I was extremely proud of our community---it was obvious to me that Williams Lake has so much spirit. We need to get into ‘pushing the envelope’ a bit and find new and exciting events to bring here that reflect what kids and young people are interested in.”   

She said that after her experience with the Olympic torch ceremony, she will actively look for more inspiring opportunities for Williams Lake. “I know that our city has appetite for it,” she said. “I would, hands-down, do it again in a heartbeat.”

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