Sharing the triumph

By Joanne Oostveen - The Weekly News
Cole Harbour is rolling out the red carpet for hometown hero Sidney Crosby on Aug. 7.
And for one longtime fan, the celebration can't come soon enough.
"It will be pretty neat to walk across the street and see a famous person from here," said 13-year-old Havelock Crescent resident Matthew Carroll. "And not a lot of people from little towns and cities get to say they saw the Stanley Cup."
Carroll said he is going to take in all the activities of the day, and said he is proud to be from Cole Harbour.
"I skate at the same place Sidney Crosby did," he said. "It is all pretty cool."
In a news release last week, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Crosby said he was very excited to bring the Stanley Cup back to Cole Harbour.
"People from home have been so supportive of me since I was a youngster playing at Cole Harbour Place," he said. "I want as many people as possible to be a part of this day."
Paul Mason is the organizer of the " Stanley Cup Celebration for Sid." He estimates there may be between 20,000 and 50,000 people attending the celebration events.
"There will be a parade at 2:30 p.m. from the Portland Hills Bus terminal to Cole Harbour Place, followed by a fan zone," said Mason. "Everything will wrap up with the Sam Roberts band."
Mason said the event is very important to Crosby, especially the part about giving the community the opportunity to participate in the celebration.
"I am sure the whole community feels the same way," he said.
Cole Harbour Coun. Lorelei Nicoll said Mayor Peter Kelly plans to declare the day "Sidney Crosby Day" and will award him with a framed declaration.
"As for myself, I am hoping I do get the opportunity to meet him to congratulate and thank him personally," Nicoll said.
"I have not seen Sidney since my days of organizing the spring fairs and other fun activities at Colby Village Elementary School. So for our paths to cross again years later, with him as an all-star hockey player and myself as councillor for Cole Harbour, is quite an amazing milestone."
With the expected volume of traffic to the area, Metro Transit spokesperson Lori Patterson said they will most likely be offering free special shuttles running from the Mic Mac terminal and Penhorn Terminal every 10 minutes to Cole Harbour Place. This service will begin at 1 p.m. and will run outbound to Cole Harbour Place until 3 p.m. The returning shuttle service from Cole Harbour Place will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will operate on a load-and-go basis until after the family event ends at about 8 p.m.
"Routes 59, 61 and 68, which normally serve our Portland Hills Terminal, where the parade is starting from, will be detoured off Portland Street onto Caldwell Road and Hampton Green to Ashgrove," said Patterson. "It is anticipated it will only take approximately 15 minutes for the parade to roll through any area with a police escort, and a portion of the Portland Hills Park and Ride lot will be closed off, to assist with the parade marshalling."
"Every kid playing street hockey dreams of raising the Stanley Cup over his or her head," said Crosby. "I've been very fortunate to be able to do it for real, and hopefully this is a way of sharing that moment with young hockey players from Cole Harbour and metro Halifax."
joanneoostveen@accesswave.ca