2015 Pan Am Games logo unveiled amid great fanfare

Toronto’s 2015 Pan Am Games logo is meant to reflect people coming together.

And bring people together it did.

The logo was unveiled Sept. 29 outside the Air Canada Centre to great fanfare.

“We are thrilled with the way it reflects our shared heritage, collaboration and commitment to the timeless passion and joy of sport and our Toronto 2015 rallying theme, United We Play,” said Ian Troop, CEO of the host corporation for the games.

Inspiration for the logo came from the figurative styles of pre-Columbian Aboriginal art forms throughout the Americas, according to a press release.

The unveiling drew a large crowd, which took in performances by break-boy Lazy Legz and singers Chantal Kreviazuk, Captain Hooks and Karl Wolf.

Planners of the 2015 Pan Am Games hope to highlight the cities of Canada to the rest of the world, promote athletics and leave a legacy of world-class facilities, much like the legacy left by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

“A legacy of the games will be the legacy that we create together,” said Troop.

He said the construction of sports facilities to accommodate the influx of competitors across the GTA will create jobs and provide a vehicle for training 10,000 athletes.

Of the planned structures, one will be at the University of Toronto Scarborough. It will be accessible to athletes, students of UofT and the community.

“We need you all to be a part of this,” said Troop.

The games are projected to run Toronto a hefty bill of more than $2 billion, $1 billion of which is to be allocated to an athlete’s village in the West Don Lands, bounded by the waterfront and the Don River.

Once the games are over, the village will be used as residential housing.

Toronto’s 2015 Pan Am Games logo was unveiled Sept. 29 outside the Air Canada Centre. Inspiration for the logo came from the figurative styles of pre-Columbian Aboriginal art forms throughout the Americas.

First Nations dancers add colour and excitement to the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.

Toronto 2015 CEO Ian Troop addresses the crowd at the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.

Revellers at the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo leave their autographs on a poster of the logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.

Recording artist Chantal Kreviazuk and students from the Regent Park School of Music lend their voices at the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.

Recording artist Chantal Kreviazuk and students from the Regent Park School of Music entertain the crowd at the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.

Singer Captain Hooks entertains the crowd gathered for the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.

Singer Captain Hooks (left) and recording artist Karl Wolf entertain the crowd gathered for the unveiling of the 2015 Pan Am Games logo outside the Air Canada Centre on Sept. 29.