Bids to host the BC Winter or BC Summer Games in 2016 or 2018 have been received from seven communities including Abbotsford, Coquitlam, Cowichan Valley, Kamloops, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, North Vancouver, and Penticton.
The communities of Abbotsford, Kamloops, and Penticton bid for the 2016 and 2018 BC Winter Games. Bids for the 2016
BC Summer Games came from Abbotsford, Cowichan Valley, Coquitlam, and Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows. The same communities also bid for the 2018 BC Summer Games along with North Vancouver.
Communities provided detailed facility information, resolutions of support from school boards and municipalities, and event hosting plans.
The BC Games Society will review and score the bids with a recommendation to be presented to the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Bill Bennett. Only one of the four BC Games will be awarded to a particular community for this bid process.
The event and sport hosting expertise of BC communities has grown, in part, from the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Communities have developed targeted sport hosting strategies which include the BC Winter and BC Summer Games. “Each of these communities has previously hosted a BC Games.
The enthusiasm behind these bids is enormous and it is a testament that these communities have seen firsthand the benefits of hosting a BC Games and want to further energize their communities through this prestigious event,” said Kelly Mann, President and CEO of the BC Games Society.
The BC Games Society is responsible for staging the BC Summer and BC Winter Games. Since 1978, the BC Games have taken place in 38 communities and involved over 350,000 participants and volunteers from every corner of the province.
The BC Games foster the development of athletes, volunteers, and communities and promote the pursuit of active living for all British Columbians.