The Pan Am Games Torch Relay is making its way to Toronto with a stop in Leamington today.
Local greenhouse grower Cole Cacciavillani was one of the torch bearers and proud to carry it in honour of the late Dean Tiessen.
"I know they wanted to do a little greenhouse segment and a tribute to Dean Tiessen who started New Energy Farms and that's what the grass is here for; quite a technology for a little town like ours to be at the centre of," says Cacciavillani.
Tiessen was killed in Brazil late in 2013.
"I started reading the 30 emails I got from the Pan Am people. I said, 'let me read this thing so I don't screw this up today,'" says Cacciavillani. "You really think of what's going on here and then when [organizers] bring us into the room and they briefed us on everything and where they've been and what's going on, it really is an honour."
After a party at the Leamington marina, the Caldwell First Nation will take the torch to the tip of Point Pelee. Olympic boxer and Windsor native Mary Spencer lit the Pan Am cauldron in Windsor yesterday.
The Pan Am Relay passes through Leamington on June 17, 2015. (Photo by Kevin Black)
