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Hundreds of fans turn out for local Jurassic Park street party

June 6, 2019   ·   0 Comments

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

Raptor fever is taking over the country and Orangeville is getting caught up in the excitement as the Toronto Raptors battle the Golden State Warriors in the first international National Basketball Association (NBA) final.

Many Canadian towns and cities caught the fever and started creating their own ‘Jurassic Park’ party zone to copy the big one in downtown Toronto.

To get in on all of the excitement, Orangeville Council held a special agenda meeting at Town Hall on Thursday, May 30, to approve and support a motion to create a local Jurassic Park on Mill Street for game two of the series on Sunday, June 2.

The motion was passed easily, approving road closures necessary to accommodate the event. 

The Town received permission from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Toronto franchise to broadcast the game.

Music 21 supplied the big screen to broadcast the game.

The council requested funding of up to $8000  to pay for the big night, but at least half the money was already donated in the first 24 hours by local business leaders. It was expected that the rest of the funds raised will pay for the event so the taxpayers won’t be on the hook for the cost of the party.

Orangeville Deputy Mayor Andy Macintosh at the meeting said they got the idea of holding a local Jurassic Park when they saw other municipalities getting involved by starting their own parties.

While Raptors fans have long used “We the North” as a rallying cry, it was joking suggested that Orangville could use “We the farther North” as a local phrase.

Since the NBA final series is a best-of-seven series, the possibility of the series going the distance was also brought up and whether another Jurassic Park night could be in the offing if the game goes the distance.

Council suggested that they would judge by the response and community involvement at the Sunday night event and go from there.

Considering there was a huge turnout on Sunday, stay informed to see what is going to happen if the Raptors can go the distance.

The Raptors lost 109 – 104 to the Warriors on Sunday night, so the series is now tied at one game each and the next two games will be in Oakland, CA, the Warriors’ home.

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