Luke Hendry
Call Ron MacLean a friend of The Friendly City.
The longtime host of Hockey Night In Canada was delighted to learn Belleville would be among the 24 stops being made this season by the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour, of which he is co-host with Tara Slone.
The Belleville event took place downtown Saturday and Sunday across from city hall.
“I love the city,” said MacLean. “It’s really great to come here.”
MacLean said a main theme for the Tour stopover in Belleville was celebrating the highly-decorated individuals and teams the city has produced. And not just in hockey.
“We started at the Armouries, with the Hastings Prince Edward Regiment — the Hasty Ps — the most decorated unit in the country’s military history,” he said. “Then you have the Crawford family which has won the Stanley Cup, the Memorial Cup, the Robertson Cup, the Calder Cup, the Turner Cup — heck, even the Swiss Cup.
“And Bobby Hull. I love the fact that with all his hockey awards his biggest prize was above his fireplace with all the ribbons he’s won for his prized Bulls.
“It kind of became an inadvertent thread for this event — the decorations.”
A sailing buff, if MacLean could decorate Belleville with one more award, it might be for its nautical attractions.
“I’ve been all through the Bay of Quinte many times,” he said. “And almost always on the water.
“Belleville has one of the nicest marinas on Lake Ontario. We’ve overnighted here a few times and loved it.”
Saturday’s event drew a modest crowd to the Front Street parking lot where fans could get autographs from Belleville native and former National Hockey League goalie Andrew Raycroft and former Belleville Bull and retired NHL centre Kyle Wellwood. Both had played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and other teams. There were both sports and military attractions in the armouries, where troops demonstrated their skills and let the public handle a variety of weapons and gear.
Sunday brought warmer, sunnier weather and more people.
“It’s been great,” said Plainfield’s Danielle Walsh, who brought her children and their friends.
“They’re all hockey players.
“We’ve been downtown both yesterday and today … They’ve had a blast.”
Walsh said she liked the many free attractions. There were skill-testing games, interactive video displays and games, prizes and informal street-hockey games for children and adults.
“They did have great stuff,” said Belleville’s Kim Burr as she kept watch over sons Ethan, 5, and Nathan Istead, 6. She said the boys were more keen to visit the armouries than the hockey area. Burr said even more kid-friendly activities could have improved the day.
Trenton’s Tony Shaw was helping his grandson, Dakota Shaw, 10, get suited up for a game. Tony said the event was “awesome.
“The kids can pretty well wander and there’s lots of interesting tidbits for the adults,” he said.
Chief executive officer Jill Raycroft of the Belleville and District Chamber of Commerce said staff encouraged organizers of the Savour the Chill soup contest (see related story in this edition) not to divert from their usual weekend. Having both events running Saturday seemed to work for the public, she said.
“Once they found out about one or the other they got to come downtown and benefit from both,” Raycroft said. “It has been a great event.”
Reviews were mixed in Saturday’s Belleville Farmers’ Market.
“We’re seeing a lot of faces we’ve never seen before,” said market president Jackie Tapp, a baker from Prince Edward County.
“We’re selling a lot of smaller things to just take away and eat,” she said.
Good weather tends to increase market traffic, but Tapp said many regular customers appeared to have stayed away.
“It’ll probably balance out in the end,” Tapp said.
She said the day had been “pretty busy” but not everyone agreed.
“It’s been dead,” said another market vendor, taking issue with event-related parking restrictions in Market Square.
Sunday’s tour finale built to a concert by the Trans-Canada Highwaymen: a band uniting Moe Berg of the Pursuit of Happiness, Craig Northey of Odds, Chris Murphy of Sloan and former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page.
That was followed by the arrival of MacLean and co-host Tara Slone and the broadcast of the Edmonton Oilers’ game against the Anaheim Ducks.
MacLean said he enjoys meeting and talking with shinny fans in all of the communities the Hometown Hockey Tour visits, from B.C. to Newfoundland. Belleville’s spring-like weekend weather and Sunday’s sunshine must’ve been a particularly nice break after enduring frigid temperatures at the previous stop in Regina.
“It was minus 30 and windy there,” said MacLean. “It was tough.”
But, MacLean said the Tour’s onsite event crew is a hardy bunch.
“They’ve had the hardest winter this season,” he said. “It was bitterly cold all through the west. I sometimes whine about having to sit at Pearson Airport for two or three hours on a Saturday night, but when I see our gang tearing down after an event, it can break your heart.”
The Tour’s travelling crew, who do everything from loading and unloading transport trucks to acting as site ambassadors once each event opens, includes a Bay of Quinte connection. Stirling native Aliesha Wilson and former Quinte AAA goaltender Real Cormier are among the crew members. MacLean speaks highly of both.
“Everybody loves Aliesha,” he said. “And Real is a great guy.”
--taken from: intelligencer.ca
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