Heavy rain brought the FIFA event to a standstill at Spencer Smith Park yesterday

By Pepper Parr

July 10^th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

The FIFA event at Spencer Smith Park on Tuesday started out well enough.

A few clouds and a bit of a breeze made walking around quite comfortable.

The trailers that brought all the equipment to the park.

Crowds had yet to arrive, but it was evident that they could show up.  My tour started at around 2:00 pm – parents were still at work.

There was a performer on stage singing some decent blues.

The stage was set up for the performances that were scheduled.

There were all kinds of things for kids to do; practicing their kicking, tossing a soccer ball and trying to get it into a board with holes in it.

Huge poster showing the standings in the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The mammoth soccer ball was a must-stop and take a picture location.

A huge chart showing who was paying who and where things were in the standings.

Was the event worth the reported $165,000 plus that the city paid FIFA?   Too early to tell.

There were stations where children could practice their soccer skills and earn points to get their names on the leaderboard.

Participants would compete with others to get their name on the leaderboard.

The challenge for this little fellow was to get the ball into one of the baskets and rack up some points. Made it on this shot.

Then there was an announcement that some inclement weather was on the way. Dark clouds were coming in from the north west and heading out over the lake.

At the time I was standing amongst a group of parents and five or six police officers.

The public address system advised that there was the potential for some rain and lightening and to get to a safe place.

The rain started lightly, but it took mere minutes to turn into a torrent that lasted more than half an hour.  People huddled inside small tents.  I had managed to get a plastic coverall on, most people had nothing.

The ground we were standing on was getting very, very soggy.  One of the security people was sitting on the ground and took a very young child into his arms and wrapped his jacket around her.  The four police officers in the 12 x 12 tent kept peeking out to see if the clouds had passed over.  Several people were tracking the storm on their cell phones.

Except for one woman who had one of those walking chairs that turns into a seat, everyone was standing.  There wasn’t enough room to move more than a couple of inches.  And the rain kept coming.

Rain just kept on coming for more than half an hour.  It would take a day of sunshine for the earth to absorb all the water.

Thirty-five minutes later, I concluded that the ground was so soggy the event would end, and I headed for the hotel to try and arrange for the drive home.