The Opening of SkyDome: A Celebration

Andrea Martin and Alan Thicke co-hosted the 90-minute event on June 3, 1989, complete with songs written specifically for the celebration. Brian Williams hosted the TV special. Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, rock band Glass Tiger, musical impersonator Andre-Phillippe Gagnon, guest stars Liberty Silver, Tommy Ambrose, the Toronto Symphony, David Clayton Thomas and CATS star Theresa Pitt, various construction workers such as ironworkers, carpenters and electricians in an Olympic style parade and thousands of “People of Toronto” showcasing multi-cultural heritage performed. It also featured a Guinness Book of World Records longest dancer kick line. The opening show rented every available spotlight on the northeastern seaboard and climaxed with a burst of fireworks and the release of 30,000 balloons, all helped by 5,000 volunteers. It was a thunderstorm / lightning ridden night. The dry weather plan was akin to an Olympic or Commonwealth Games opening event. Stars, songs, dancers, orchestra, rock bands, open roof, skydivers enter, end with fireworks and giant celebration. The wet weather plan was to crack the roof open by a couple of metres at the northern end, over an unseated area (reserved for performers earlier in show), with special lighting effects and video of the roof opening test from the days before on the jumbotron screen, then a voice over “due to the rain, now we c…

Browse discussions about “The Opening of SkyDome: A Celebration”

Jump to Reddit for live threads on this title.