With the Olympic Short Track Speedskating Trials fast approaching, the Marquette community and Northern Michigan University are preparing for the arrival of the athletes in a variety of different ways.
The Olympic Speedskating Trials will be held from Sept. 8-12 in the Berry Events Center. Athletes will compete for the chance to represent the United States in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
The NMU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has been preparing entertainment for the event by getting bands, face painters and several other types of activities together for the four-day trial.
“We’ve spent the last few months just getting together our resources,” said Chelsea Kunisch, one of the PRSSA members in charge of getting entertainment ready for the trials. “We’ve gone around the community and around Northern’s campus, trying to keep it local.”
Kunisch said she felt it was important that instead of hiring a company to organize the entertainment, the effort is student based.
“PRSSA has come together with the community to get this going and make it the best that’s possible,” Kunisch said. “We’ve spent six months getting ready for the event. It’s been a labor of love.”
When the trials were here in 2005, PRSSA was in charge of the entertainment committee for the Olympic trials.
PRSSA has been preparing since April for the event and working with other student groups, like the service organization Alpha Phi Omega and the sorority Alpha Xi Delta, who are doing the face painting at the event.
“It’s really exciting to know that you are helping out at any event,” said Kate Annala, president of PRSSA. “And this is kind of a big job.”
Annala said she is hoping for a big turnout from NMU students.
“It’d be really good if students could come and support the athletes,” Annala said. “It’d be really great to see a lot of people there.”
NMU theatre professor Shelly Russell has prepared a performance for the opening ceremony of the event. The presentation is a musical and a combination of two separate plays written by Russell, “Beacon on the Rock” and “Points North.”
“We were asked to create a piece which would have regional significance,” Russell said. “Both of these plays bring up ideas about the U.P. in particular; the beauty of the area, but also the toughness of the area. The subject is immigration to the U.P., but I think the relevance to the Olympic athletes is that they’re both about teamwork and overcoming obstacles.”
Russell said the performance will be comprised of 16-18 performers.
She said she is excited for the Olympic trials and a chance to put on a performance for the athletes.
“People are just really excited about an Olympic event at Northern,” Russell said. “They’ve been really contributing.”
The Marquette Area Chamber of Commerce has organized a speed skating expo for a variety of different businesses, to be held at the Westwood Mall on Sept. 10 from 12-7 p.m. Many non-profit organizations, restaurants and retailers, as well as several NMU athletic teams will be there.
“The main purpose originally behind it [the expo] was so that some of the speed skating sponsors would have a presence in our community,” said Lindsay Hemmila, the Marketing and Membership Specialist at the Chamber of Commerce. “We decided we would open it up to other businesses of the community.”
Hemmila said she felt the speedskating expo was very important to the Marquette community.
“We want people to really feel welcome. We want people to really get a grasp of who we are and what we have to offer. I think it’s an important expo to have,” Hemmila said. “One of the reasons we’re doing this is for the athletes and coaches coming to town. We are so happy to have them here.”
