PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- The Opening Ceremony for the 16th annual Meijer State Games of Michigan will include a cauldron-lighting and a parade of athletes.
Registration is still underway.
It gets underway at 6:30 Friday evening with a kickoff party at the Meijer State Complex in Plainfield Township in Kent County. The opening ceremonies begin at 7:30. The event will feature a lineup of Olympians, Paralympians, and entertainment provided by the TNT Dunk Squad.
You do not have to be an athlete to attend. The pre-ceremony activities include an Athlete Village's. Representatives from Battle GR Tactical Games and Meijer Corp. will be attending.
"We have some awesome raffle prizes ... and then, we have Olympians talking, we have a dunk team coming out," Meijer State Games director Julie Cullen told WOOD Radio.
She said the games and activities people together.
"It's great to have this connection of sports and athletes and ages and abilities come together. And that's what we try to do with our event. It's not just another baseball tournament or softball tournament. It really is something a little bit larger than that," Cullen said on West Michigan's Morning News.
More than 6,000 athletes are participating in about three dozen Olympic-style sports at the Meijer State Games of Michigan's Summer Games. They kicked off earlier this month.
"We've already had pickleball and beach wrestling happen. We had 180 beach wrestlers in Grand Haven," Cullen said.
The Meijer State Games are being played at 41 venues with a wide variety of competitions.
"We do truly mean, hey, if you want to try out or get back into the sport you did in high school ... or trying something out as a kid, or maybe it's your first tae kwon do competition, this is a great place to join us at," Cullen said.
A separate, national State Games of America also takes place each year. It is an Olympic-style event featuring competition between State Games medal winners (gold, silver, bronze) from across the nation. There are 28 states conducting or organizing statewide sports festivals known as State Games.
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