Without a doubt baseball fever has hit Canada, with the Toronto Blue Jays seemingly heading towards their first World Championship in 32 years.
Although Calgarians could have settled for watching game six on their television screens on Oct. 31, they also had the opportunity to see the game about as large is it gets at Pixel Park.
The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) set up a giant screen at the Beltline park during the Halloween evening in an effort to make the game a little less like couch sitting and a lot more like community building.
“This is a historic night in Canadian sports, and we wanted to jump on that opportunity and create an opportunity for the community to come out and celebrate Game Six together,” said Emma Stevens, Director of Communications and External Relations at the CMLC.
She said the plan to show the game came together at the last minute after the Jay’s big win on Wednesday night.
“We thought, this is the right time. Let’s put it together,” said Stevens.
“We have a screen provider that we work with for Movie on the Rise. We made a few calls, and we were able to pull it together. Cold Garden is here with some non-alcoholic drinks, and just wanted to put the word out to the community and give them the chance to come out and celebrate together,” she said.
Several dozen people came out to the event instead of partaking in Halloween activities.
Stevens said that CMLC was happy that they were able to put together something for those visitors to Pixel Park.
“We’re really excited for the people who have come out. We know it’s a tough night. It’s Halloween, and it’s also at the end of October, so it’s cold out here. But we’re all about year round programming, and we want to create opportunities for people to get together. We’re just happy to create those moments for people,” she said.
As for the possibility of bringing back the big screen for a seventh and final game, she said that CMLC was planning on the Jays taking it in six.
Unfortunately, despite having a couple of baserunners on with none out in the ninth inning, the Jays were unable to get anyone home and the game ended 3-1 for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Game 7 it is.
