Can-Am games may come to county
Officials representing a mini Olympics-style tournament for police and firefighters began touring Butler County sports venues over the weekend.
Four board members overseeing the biennial Can-Am Police-Fire Games arrived in Butler County on Saturday. Tourism and Convention Bureau staff planned to spend Sunday, Monday and a portion of Tuesday caravanning the team to various sports and outdoor venues.
There's a big question looming over the tour: Will Butler be picked? Tourism workers heard about a month ago that Butler County was one of two areas being considered for the 2024 Can-Am games. Savannah, Ga., is the other option. After leaving Butler, officials such as Can-Am's president and CEO Bill Merrylees will head there for a tour.
“Our decision is based on the experience the athletes are going to have,” Merrylees said. “If we get a sense that this is a really great place to visit, and it can support what we need, that's what we'll do.”
Butler County submitted one of seven proposals for the 2024 games. After officials tour both the areas under consideration, a decision is scheduled to be announced in mid-November at an event in Las Vegas.
Jack Cohen, president of the tourism bureau, said he thinks Butler has what it takes to host the games. “We have all the facilities we need, and we're going to show them that,” Cohen said.
If Butler wins, it'll be the second time a Pennsylvania community has hosted the event. In 2014, York County hosted the games.
The latest U.S. Census population estimate for Savannah listed the city at 145,862 people. Butler County's estimate from the same time was a population of 187,888.
Lynn Hillman, the U.S. president for the games, said regions of this size tend to serve as good hosts. Most of their participants drive, rather than fly, so they look for areas that would likely have high populations of police and firefighters within a roughly eight-hour drive of the hosting area. Hillman said Butler scores highly in that regard.
“They could make these games as big as they want,” Hillman said.
When the games come to town, they bring more than 1,000 competitors with them. Multiple countries are typically involved, even beyond the hosting Canada and United States — which represent the Can-Am in the name.
Those competitors participate in about 40 different athletic events. The variety of contests typically includes both common sports such as hockey and golf as well as events tailored to police and firefighters — for example, shooting or narcotics dogs competitions. The games always feature a SWAT team competition — which is the only event not available for public viewing.
Competitors can include everyone from international athletes to rookies. The games welcome both.
“Fitness is really important for our front-line responders,” Merrylees said. “And the camaraderie it builds is equally important.”
The games are announced a full five years in advance, so that host areas are able to properly drum up local support and sponsorships.
Organizers rely heavily on leaders from local fire departments, police teams and EMS groups.
The board members visiting are emergency workers themselves.
Merrylees is a police superintendent for the London Police Service in Ontario, Canada, and Hillman is a retired lieutenant colonel with Oregon State Police.
The visiting board will scout out locations at Slippery Rock University, Moraine State Park and Pullman Park, to name a few.
