World Youth Day - JUL 2002
Downsview Park

World Youth Day is a gathering of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from 150 countries. Held in Canada for the first time, Toronto was chosen as the host city for 2002.

Downsview Park, a 644 acre urban park located in the geographic centre of the Greater Toronto Area was the site for the Evening Vigil and Mass performed by Pope John Paul II, attended by over 800,000 people.

SHOWTECH was awarded the event based on our past achievements at similar events such as the G-7 and G-8 Summit Meetings as well as the World Games. Working in conjunction with a High Voltage Utility Contractor and a Diesel Equipment Supplier, we provided electrical services for temporary lighting, sound, video and air-conditioning to the Main Stage and remote areas of Downsview Park. Areas serviced included field hospitals, police command centres, washroom compounds (six thousand portable toilets), volunteer accommodation areas, pilgrim food lines, media areas, registration areas and individual food concessionaires.

The Pilgrim Food Service Areas required electrical cooking equipment capable of heating 200,000 meals per hour, which consisted of a quantity of 104 - one hundred ampere 208 volt, 3 phase electrical connections. This is equivalent to powering more than one hundred and fifty typical homes.

A Media Centre was converted from two indoor soccer fields to accommodate 700 media personnel, each requiring electrical and telecommunication connections.

The Main Stage required 3,000 amperes at 460 volt, 3 phase and then transformed to 120/208 volt 3 phase for Lighting, Sound, Video, Host broadcaster requirements as well as a production / contractor compound of twenty temporary office trailers and various caterers’ requirements.

In all, over 156,000 feet of heavy gauge electric cabling, 57 generators, 170 transformers, all of the distribution panels and thousands of extension cables were installed by SHOWTECH.