Fireworks will mark the Flame's arrival City combines Halloween and Torch Relay festivities

Display location:Nanaimo
City: Nanaimo
Country: Canada

Details: When the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay winds its way into the heart of the city today, it will be one of the biggest celebrations ever organized in Nanaimo.

Harnessing the Olympic spirit into a massive, hours-long public party will put the eyes of the world on the city as we host Day 2 of the cross-Canada torch journey and first evening soiree.

Despite a slight chance of showers, events at Maffeo-Sutton park are expected to draw as many as 10,000 people to the waterfront to see the historic lighting of the cauldron by final torchbearer Michelle Stilwell, a double Paralympic gold medallist.

City and RCMP officials have spent months organizing the celebration and its security.

Olympic spirit will be high with fireworks and festivities, including musical entertainment, athlete autograph booths, food and community kiosks that feature a display of former torches, Snuneymuxw dancers and drummers, a magic show and more. The Third Street corridor and Maffeo-Sutton Park, the site of the Spirit Square, are decorated with more than 260 Olympic banners.

"I like to think of it as a community evening celebration. We're the first big one," said city marketing and communications specialist Hannah King. "It will all be high-energy. People don't have to miss out on Halloween. I'm certainly taking my little girls."

The family-friendly event features candy for little trick-or-treaters and children can also snag souvenir torches at city recreation centres to wave along the relay route and at the celebration. Children can also fill up goody bags going door-to-door to more than 75 downtown businesses between 3 p.m and 5 p.m. Black and orange balloons highlight participating stores. The family can also refuel with hot dogs and hot chocolate at the park, sold by the Salvation Army.

Activities continue from 5:45 p.m. until the arrival of the torch at 8 p.m., with the singing of the national anthem, blessings and speeches. Fireworks will close the ceremony at 9 p.m.

Saturday evening has a 30% chance of showers, according to Environment Canada, which forecast a mix of sun and clouds through the day. Organizers encourage people to dress warmly and pack rain gear.

Navigating to the harbourfront will be busy so organizers encourage those who want to avoid traffic tie-ups to carpool or take transit, which will offer free bus service to accommodate the crowds.

From 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., street closures to accommodate the torch relay will be in effect. Police warn the public to expect delays.

People are encouraged to park at nearby places like Country Club Centre, Beban Park, University Mall and Vancouver Island University to take advantage of Park n' Ride, which offers courtesy parking in combination with public transit.

Buses will be free after 3:30 p.m. during their regular Saturday schedule.

There is no public parking at Maffeo-Sutton Park and no street parking in the downtown core. Front Street will also be closed to all traffic. The city lot behind the Howard Johnson Hotel and the Bastion Street Parkade will be available for free parking. The parking lot at Port Place Mall will be open.

Prime viewing points are virtually anywhere along the relay route but get there early to snag a sidewalk spot. Torchbearers will snake their way through Harewood, Old City Quarter and downtown. The final relay run before its descent into Maffeo-Sutton Park by Stilwell will be an iconic Nanaimo view, so line up alongside the seawall to catch the historic moment. Stilwell will make her way over the bridge, around the lagoon and through the crowd into the Spirit Square to light the cauldron.

Following a blessing ceremony, the torch relay in Nanaimo will kick off at the Snunyemuxw First Nation band office on Centre Street at 6:30 p.m. As many as 60 torchbearers, each in 300-metre stints, will relay the flame along Needham Street, Victoria Road and through Harewood along Bruce Avenue before continuing along Fifth Street and Wakesiah Avenue into the Old City Quarter. Torchbearers continue along Third Street, Fitzwilliam and down Wesley, Franklyn and Wallace streets before runners descend the spiral staircase in front of the Coast Bastion Inn for the leg along the waterfront. Stilwell will light the cauldron for its final descent in Maffeo-Sutton Park around 8 p.m.

Fireworks will wrap up events at 9 p.m.

Early the next day, a small ceremonial lighting of the flame will take place in Maffeo-Sutton Park between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. before torchbearers continue the relay through north Nanaimo. The route continues along Stewart Avenue, Brechin Road and Departure Bay Road before starting its Lantzville leg at 8:06 a.m. at Schook and Dickenson roads. The Nanoose portion begins at Northwest Bay Road and McDivitt Drive at 8:39 p.m. and the relay runs into Parksville, at Rathtrevor and Plummer Roads, at 9 a.m.

Parksville will host an hour-long celebration at the community park before the torch continues on to Coombs at 10:11 a.m. on Highway 4A near Station Road. The flame is driven between the various legs of the relay.

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay travels coast-to-coast through more than 1,000 communities for more than 100 days. Twelve-thousand torchbearers will carry the flame more than 45,000 kilometres. The journey ends at the opening ceremonies at B.C. Place in Vancouver in February.