Christopher Dell runs in the 5k portion of the toughest competitor alive competition in the 2024 Can-Am Police-Fire Games at Morrow Field House in Slippery Rock on Saturday, July 20. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

While Paris prepares for the Summer Olympic Games, Butler County has just wrapped up its own summer athletics spectacular, the 2024 Can-Am Police-Fire Games.

From July 15 through Sunday, July 21, more than 500 first responders from the U.S. and Canada came into the county to take part in 25 athletic events.

Butler County prepared rigorously for the coming of The Games since it was chosen as the host of the event in November 2019, beating out its sole competitor, Savannah, Ga.

“We needed to know that all the different things we needed for all these different games were here,” said Jack Cohen, president of the bureau. “We had to go check everything and make sure it was at the caliber that we need.”

Though The Games have ended, their economic impact on Butler County will linger, especially for hotels, restaurants, and shops which stood to profit handsomely from the special event.

Cohen estimated the athletes contributed roughly $630,000 to Butler County’s economy for the week they spent there.

“You’ve got 600 athletes here,” Cohen said. “Each one of them, you figure about $175 a day, times six (days), times 600. $175 is how much they pay for the hotel room and the food they eat, and probably a little bit of gas they need to get them back and forth.”

Of course, those athletes needed places to stay, eat and shop during the week when they weren’t competing, and Butler County had plenty to deliver.

Hotels such as the SpringHill Suites on East Jefferson Suites in Butler benefited from the influx of athletes coming into town for the week. According to SpringHill manager Audrianna Bly, who also is president of Butler Downtown, the hotel was sold out for the entire week.

“We were actually sold out from the Friday before (The Games), I think through the 20th,” Bly said. “A lot of that was also due to the Trump situation, but we did also have quite a few at Can-Am during the week.”

In addition to the sporting events, Can-Am organizers also held a variety of social events throughout the week at businesses throughout the county.

One of these was a “chili bowl” event at The Beacon Hotel on July 16 that raised more than $1,000 for the Special Olympics. Dozens of competing first responders dropped by The Beacon for competitions such as a chili pepper eating contest, a mustache contest, and games of darts.

“We had people visiting from Canada, from St. Louis, from all over the country,” said Deb Krelow, owner of the Beacon Hotel. “We met them, and they really had a good time here. Some of the visitors that came in that Tuesday came back during the week.”

Bly said staff at the SpringHill made sure to point their athlete guests toward everything else Butler County had to offer, especially some nearby destinations on Butler’s Main Street.

“We definitely suggested the Chop Shop, Mac’s Brick Oven Pizza, Your Parents’ Basement,” Bly said. “I think we also sent some people to Johnny’s (Distillery). Pretty much anything on Main. We try to let people know what we have downtown.”

Cohen said the biggest winner of the entire week was the county itself, which he said proved its ability to hold a large-scale event.

“(The athletes) said their favorite thing was Butler County,” Cohen said. “They enjoyed the company, they enjoyed the people, and they enjoyed the businesses. A lot of them said they're going to come back. Anybody who owns a Jeep said they're going to come to the Jeep Festival.”

Butler’s next large-scale event will be the United States Hockey League’s Fall Classic in September, which is held on an annual basis at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township. The complex also will host the USA Hockey 18U National Championship tournament in April 2025.

Christopher Krouse, left, and Christopher Harper race in the 100-meter sprint portion of the toughest competitor alive competition in the 2024 Can-Am Police-Fire Games at Morrow Field House in Slippery Rock on Saturday, July 20. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (7/20/2024)