Pan Am Games Opening Ceremony to be Broadcast Live at Nathan Phillips Square

One-night-only performance created and produced by Cirque du Soleil

TORONTO, July 6, 2015 /CNW/ - The TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games will host a free, live broadcast of the Pan Am Opening Ceremony on multiple jumbo video screens at Nathan Phillips Square on Friday, July 10. The evening will kick off at 5 p.m. with live entertainment in the Square, and at 8 p.m., the Opening Ceremony live feed from Host Broadcaster CBC will begin. The hosts for the evening will be Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila and actor/comedian Rick Miller.

Canada's globally celebrated cultural icon, Cirque du Soleil, creator and producer of this
one-night-only original production, will infuse the ceremony with its revolutionary stagecraft, acrobatics and pageantry to welcome the 40 countries and territories of the Americas to Canada at the Pan Am Ceremonies Venue at 1 Blue Jays Way. The theatrical and cultural elements of the Opening Ceremony will frame iconic moments such as the Parade of Nations and the lighting of the Pan Am cauldron to officially open the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games.

The following day, PANAMANIA Live @ Nathan Phillips Square (July 11 to 26 during the Pan Am Games and August 7 to 12 during the Parapan Am Games) kicks off with headliners Serena Ryder and Wyclef Jean. Each day's free festivities will include live music and entertainment, Victory Celebrations presented by CIBC and nightly fireworks, co-produced with the City of Toronto. Additionally, the Parapan Am Closing Ceremony will be held in Nathan Phillips Square on August 15.

Nathan Phillips Square is also home of the 10,000-square-foot TORONTO 2015 Superstore, opening July 1. This will be THE place for Games apparel, made-in-Toronto leather goods, collectible coins, pins, PACHI plush and more.

Great tickets are available to many sport competitions including beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, rugby, gymnastics and football (soccer). Tickets can be purchased at TORONTO2015.org/tickets.

PANAMANIA has been financially assisted by the Community Celebrations Fund, a program of the Government of Canada, the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation and the City of Toronto.

For the PANAMANIA schedule and more information, please visit TORONTO2015.org/PANAMANIA.

Press room: panamania.pr.co/.

SOURCE Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games

For further information: Media contact: FLIP PUBLICITY Carrie Sager 416.533.7710 ext. 224 | [email protected]