After a snow sprinkle on Saturday morning, the weather was perfect for a mid winter’s day in Cobourg for the Roger’s Hometown Hockey event. It was held in the Marina parking lot – re-christened the Cobourg West Harbour for the occasion. Unless you were a hockey fan, it was not clear what exactly the event was – just that it would appeal to Hockey fans, it was free and would be a family event. It also had a couple of food vendors (a Pizza Truck and a Sobey’s tent with hot dogs) but I’d guess this would not be enough for many so hopefully downtown restaurants were busy. During most of the time, the area appeared moderately busy with a steady stream of people coming and going all the time.
But on Sunday night, the “Parade of Champions” had what appeared to be thousands but was likely several hundred participants. It seemed that all the local and nearby junior Hockey teams plus many adult supporters were there.
During the two days, there was also live entertainment in the temporary bandshell (photo above right) interspersed with multiple interviews with Hockey celebrities. There were also autograph opportunities and major sponsor Hyundai had several cars on display.
It helped that Canada’s junior team won their gold medal on Sunday – certainly put the crowd in a good mood.
Police presence was strong – mostly Special Constables – and the whole event seemed well organized.
Below is a video of the event. It starts with still shots of Saturday and ends with video of the “Parade of Champions”.
Link
Rogers Hometown Hockey comes to Cobourg
Extra
Dominik Wisniewski at Northumberland News reports that according to Ashley Purdey, the Town’s Communications Officer, 2500 people participated in the parade, 6000-8000 attended the event and the economic benefit to the town was $1M.
We aren’t real Hockey Fans but having retired here 5 years ago we were really excited Hometown Hockey was coming to Our New Hometown !! We got some great pictures and enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of everyone 🏒 Joanne and John
Had the opportunity to hang with some of the ‘rowdies’ from Rogers Hometown support group. Got a tour of the Broadcasting van. The ‘rowdies’ are great guys and they very much understood how important the Rogers Hometown Hockey gig is to communities. They were effusive with their comments (lodging, eateries) about Cobourg. Had the opportunity to make other dining suggestions (including Port Hope) for their consideration. The entire event was well enjoyed (my opinion) by old and young alike. Hopefully there a more similar events headed Cobourgs way.
I heard that four of the downtown restaurants chose to close up for a couple of weeks holiday. Does not seem like a wise decision to me with an event of that magnitude taking place all weekend.
Great Job John Always enjoy your incite-full coverage of events in Cobourg Please keep it up. Great couple of days for the town. Hope everyone enjoyed it
And a Standing Ovation for John Draper! How do you do all of this exemplary 24/7 work?!
Thanks John. Wonderful coverage!
Thrilling to see so much Cobourg youth-energy and young families in your video!