http://www.ctvolympics.ca/torch/new...e+blinded+light
Between a star and a flame, blinded by the light
When the tiny, pretty brunette known by just one name in these parts came jogging toward the Olympic cauldron Friday night, of course the crowd in Timmins cheered. "Welcome home, Shania," one man called. But among the throngs who gathered to see the flame go by and celebrate a hometown superstar, there was one young woman who was especially excited.
After all, if it weren't for Shania Twain, 27-year-old Andrea O'Callaghan wouldn't live in Timmins. And she would never have met the man she's about to marry.
Her first visit was six years ago - what Ms. O'Callaghan sheepishly calls "my freaky stalker fan moment." Then living in east end Toronto, where she was born and raised, she drove the eight hours to Timmins and lined up overnight to meet the country singer at a short appearance, before turning around and doing the trip all over again to get her autograph at another event in Hamilton, 750 kilometres away.
"I was wearing the same clothes," she said, laughing. It was the briefest glimpse possible of Timmins, no time for a romance. But the next time would be different.
She came that summer for a convention at the 12,000-square-foot Shania Twain Centre, which sits atop a small hill in a sleepy corner of town. The modern, soaring temple to all things Shania opened nine years ago, but it still has that new building smell - and compared to its largesse, the modest gold mining museum out back (the original attraction on this spot) is almost an afterthought. In the same way, Timmins may have been built by the gold beneath its streets, but outside of this part of the North and in countries far away, its name and fame have everything to do with Shania.
For Ms. O'Callaghan and her fiancé, Rene Gaudreau, it was a simple story. He worked at the convention. They sat at the same tables at lunch, got to know each other, exchanged e-mail addresses. A visit here and there when she returned to finish her studies at the University of Toronto.
"I was only going to move here for a year," she said, recalling the day three years ago when she packed up her life in Toronto and headed north. "And then I never left. Timmins takes over."
Now Ms. O'Callaghan works at the Centre, which fittingly serves both as a tourist attraction dedicated to the singer and as a community hall.
"The recognition Shania brings to Timmins is amazing," said Tracy Hautanen, the manager of the Centre. "We get people from Finland who come here because she said, ‘Visit my hometown, it's a great place to go.'."
The Centre greets between 5,000 and 7,000 people per year.
"Because we bring people in, it contributes to the local economy," said Anne MacDonald, a member of the board.
The four staff members also spread the gospel of Timmins. And they have one tool to do it: the Shania mobile. Formally, it's the City of Timmins van, but nobody calls it that. A picture of the singer's face is plastered to each side, along with a photograph of the other symbol of the town: a gold mine headframe. Every June, Ms. O'Callaghan and Ms. Hautanen pile into the Shania mobile and head to Nashville for the CMA Music Festival, a country fan gathering. There, they set up a booth, and invite people way, way up to Timmins.
"They market for the North," Ms. MacDonald said. "You've got to entice people to come North, period. And then you get them to see the attractions."
It's a highlight of the year for Ms. Hautanen, even though it's hard to stop in a parking lot without being held up by people who want their picture taken with the van. And she has to be careful not to speed, she said.
"It doesn't blend in with traffic."
For Ms. O'Callaghan, driving that van to Nashville means the transformation is complete. Not only has the Scarborough native made her home in Timmins, she's gotten downright evangelical about her town and the people in it.
Friday night she stood among them, a dancing mass whose breath rose in great steaming waves into the sharp air, as the person who brought her here came running through.
"Timmins has a fantastic hometown spirit," Ms. Twain said after she lit the cauldron. "I carry that with me wherever I go."
If Ms. O'Callaghan is any indication, it's infectious.
The wedding will be in Timmins, in August. ("We had to make sure it was the weekend after the convention.") The city folk will just have to make the drive.