On February 11, Dara Howell made Canadians everywhere proud - she won a gold medal in the first ever slopestyle skiing event at the Olympics!
This past Friday night the town of Huntsville celebrated their hometown hero. And what a celebration it was! 5,000 people crammed into Rivermill Park to celebrate Dara's victory. Fireworks, music, and special messages from the mayor, MP, MPP, even the Premier! But I'm jumping ahead of myself a little bit. Let's start at the beginning.
Being a Huntsville station, LIFE couldn't miss this amazing local celebration. I was the lucky representative who got to go. It started out with a press conference where we got to ask Dara whatever we wanted.
Then after all the picture taking, I got a chance to sit down with Dara and chat one-on-one. What a cool, down-to-earth young lady. She's only 19, so she's just starting out here career. It's neat to see how much she loves Huntsville, and how excited she was to hit the slopes again (it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks!) . I'll try to post some of that interview here, but you can also here it on LIFE today at 4:45pm and 6:45pm.
This past Friday night the town of Huntsville celebrated their hometown hero. And what a celebration it was! 5,000 people crammed into Rivermill Park to celebrate Dara's victory. Fireworks, music, and special messages from the mayor, MP, MPP, even the Premier! But I'm jumping ahead of myself a little bit. Let's start at the beginning.
Being a Huntsville station, LIFE couldn't miss this amazing local celebration. I was the lucky representative who got to go. It started out with a press conference where we got to ask Dara whatever we wanted.
Dara answering a question, and Dara with Mayor Claude Doughty
She then posed for pictures...
She let me hold the gold medal - it's heavy! (notice her gold nail police...nice touch)
And perhaps one of the coolest parts of the evening for myself...
Then after all the picture taking, I got a chance to sit down with Dara and chat one-on-one. What a cool, down-to-earth young lady. She's only 19, so she's just starting out here career. It's neat to see how much she loves Huntsville, and how excited she was to hit the slopes again (it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks!) . I'll try to post some of that interview here, but you can also here it on LIFE today at 4:45pm and 6:45pm.
Then it was on to the actual celebration...
Dara was just beaming as she was brought in on a fire truck, escorted by police and the RCMP. She beamed every time she took them mic and spoke to the crowd. And the crowd loved it - they loved her, the home town girl! And perhaps the biggest honour - as a permanent memorial to Dara, the town is renaming the street in front of River Mill Park as 'Dara Howell Way'. (She also got a very nice Audi SUV for winning her gold medal...not to shabby!)
Dara was just beaming as she was brought in on a fire truck, escorted by police and the RCMP. She beamed every time she took them mic and spoke to the crowd. And the crowd loved it - they loved her, the home town girl! And perhaps the biggest honour - as a permanent memorial to Dara, the town is renaming the street in front of River Mill Park as 'Dara Howell Way'. (She also got a very nice Audi SUV for winning her gold medal...not to shabby!)
I think though, that perhaps the best part of the evening was what happened afterward. Dara promised to stay and sign autographs for everyone who wanted to meet her. And she kept that promise. The line was SOOO long..and 20 minutes later when I look back, it had not shortened at all...and then 20 minutes later again, it was still just as long...and Dara stayed and met every person and signed every autograph. Classy. And humble.
I'm looking forward to seeing more from this young Huntsville gold medalist, who is just full of potential.
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