#tyi18

Interviewer: I guess first of all, Scott, the crowd, I mean when you’re driving down there, what was the vibe like there?

SM: It’s pretty fun, especially seeing the young kids, seeing how excited they are, and obviously... nothing can prepare you for a moment like that, I don’t think, it’s pretty special, and I love this community so it’s nice to be able to go down and feel that support and see the faces of people who have been behind you for 21 years.

I: Expecting such a large crowd?

SM: I don’t know - I don’t know, we’re not very good at knowing how many people are there but I didn’t expect that many people, that’s for sure.

TV: It’s still alarming to us that anyone would take time out of their long weekend in August to come and celebrate today, but it’s not even about us today, it’s really about the community and it’s so neat to look around and take note of those who are hopefully enjoying the day and, uh, having a fun summer.

I: Tessa, as the crowd got bigger as you got closer to the arena, the fans started getting a little more vibrant and jumping around the street.

SM: (laughing) There was a couple rambunctious areas for sure, I think that -

I: What was it like to see, as the fans started to get more interactive with you, obviously it looked pretty exciting to see the girls especially running up?

TV: I mean, it’s so heartwarming, I’ve been on the other end of that, and on the other side, in a lawn chair watching the Ilderton Parade go by or on a float with the mini jets or something, so it’s fun to sort of take in that atmosphere and we’re so appreciative of all the support we’ve received - it’s just, it’s heartwarming, I mean, this community has embraced and adopted me from the very beginning and for that I’m so grateful.

I: Scott, why did you guys wanna do this?

SM: Sorry?

I: Why did you wanna do this thing?

SM: Well, it’s just, it’s exactly, it’s in the name, it’s just to thank everybody for the support that they’ve given Tess and I our whole careers and, uh, we always like to tell people that, you know, it takes a village, and it’s true in our case, we had so much support - both from London and Ilderton - and we just wanted to throw an event that gave people a chance to come out and have some fun. It’s summertime - we won’t be skating today (Tessa laughs), but there will be a lot of fun, so we’re pretty excited about that.

Interviewer 2: Some people are saying out there, I was talking to some of the children that come here - and I know you guys like to do stuff for the kids specifically - and one of the things that they told me was, the fact that you guys did what you did means that they can live up to their dreams, even if they’re from a small town. What do you guys think of that?

SM: Yeah.

TV: I mean, that’s the best, if we can inspire anyone to chase their dreams or to believe in themselves or to just instill a sense of limitlessness, I think that’s incredible and how fortunate are we that we have that platform and that ability to connect with so many people, and the fact that our programs and our performances resonated with kids is really meaningful, and more than that, hopefully it’s what we will continue to try and do off the ice.

I: The party’s just getting started, right, just kind of talk about tonight, after the sun goes or just before the sun goes down...?

SM: Absolutely. (TV: After the media wraps up.) Yeah, as soon as we’re done with this media scrum the fun really gets going. No, I’m just kidding. But it’s a family day, we’re really excited about that, and we can’t wait to just hang out with our people from Ilderton, with this community and the skating club and, uh, it’s gonna be a lot of fun, but it’s not anywhere near close to being done yet, that’s for sure.

I: Can you give us - finally give us the bandlist, or playlist...?

SM: You’ll see it when it comes on the stage, but I will say that we’re very proud of the people that we have because most of them are from the community; uh, you know, when we were looking for kind of our first little breakthrough and to skate in front of a big crowd at the then JLC, it was huge for us, and the fact that we can have, hopefully seven or eight thousand people here for some of these young artists, it’s great.

I: What do you wanna tell the town? That they all came out here to see you, is there anything that you wanna tell them or...?

SM: Thank you. There’s not much else to say. Thanks for everything.

TV: Every time that we took the ice, no matter where we were in the world, we always felt the support of Ilderton and, we knew that we represented Canada but that also meant representing Ontario and Southwestern Ontario and the Ilderton Skating Club, and we were very cognizant of that every time we laced up our skates, and the support we’ve received has just been unwavering and steadfast throughout the two decades and it’s remarkable that everyone isn’t sick of us (maybe they are but) they really stood by us and it really, truly means a lot to us.

I: Throughout your entire storied career has there been one memorable moment that stands out above all of the others?

SM: Not really, I mean, I think we’re pretty fortunate that we have different memories along our career, I mean, we’ve had twenty-one years together and, uh, I don’t think there’s one that stands out specifically but I - I can remember coming home, especially ‘cause a day like today, you remember coming home and one moment I’ll remember from our career is being in the London airport on the way home from Pyeongchang, and seeing the thousand people that decided to wait for our flight to come in. It’s that kind of support that we wanna give something back like this for, I mean, we’re fortunate that we had the career we had, we had a great sporting experience and it’s, I think, kind of our duty and responsibility to kind of pay it forward and inspire some young people to be, not just be athletes, be artists, to chase their dreams and uh, hopefully we could do a little bit of that today.

I: After your final skate, Tessa, you had - you’re being interviewed - you had one trickle of a tear coming out, was it a tear of joy, or a tear of happiness...?

TV: Sweat. (laughter)

I: Could be sweat, yeah.

TV: No, it was, uh... it surprised me, there haven’t been many moments in our career when we’ve been celebrating that we felt that, um, sort of emotional... pull and, I mean... I think it was just an acknowledgement of the team that got us there, of that comeback process, of investing everything into the work to get us to that one moment, and to have executed the programs we did together and... honestly just being so proud of Scott. (SM: Yeah.) Sometimes it’s easier to recognize our success when I see him as an athlete, just so proud of him, and so excited for him.

SM: And I think of that moment, it’s really quite a personal one - I know that’s kind of crazy, we shared it with all the canadians - but it was really for us and about our journey, and I know that’s Tessa’s reaction, the one tear, but I mean, that was for us, I mean, that’s why it’s cool doing a day like today where we can not be under such intense pressure and be so worried about delivering for our team and for each other and just share a great day, a summer day with our community that’s always been there for us.

I: What is (???) going in the Canadian Hall of Fame (???) ...folks?

TV: I mean, that’s the highest honour imaginable. 

I: Was it a complete surprise?

TV: It was... (SM: Yeah.) definitely a surprise to receive that email, and especially to see such esteemed names, you know, we’ve admired so many of those others for so many years, and I’m not quite sure it’s sunk in yet but what a thrill that will be come December.

I: One last question for me; is there one lesson that you’ve learned through your entire career that you wanna share with kids that have goals and aspirations much like you did, back when you first started figure skating, one lesson you take away?

SM: Well, there are a lot of things that have to go right in your career, but we always say, it’s not a very complicated solution, there are no shortcuts and uh, dream big, and commit yourself to those dreams. I mean, that, it sounds really cliché, you’ve heard that from everybody, but we believe in that, there are no shortcuts, hard work will get you where you wanna go, and that’s what we try and relay to kids.

I: On behalf of the Ilderton community, everybody around Canada, thanks for everything you guys have done and brought attention through the sport, and you’ve done Canada proud. (SM: Thank you.)

TV: Thank you. You’re gonna bring back another tear (laughs).

Interviewer 4: When you walk into this building, you’ve been coming here for twenty, twenty-one years (TV: a lot), what’s your emotion, or what do you feel..?

SM: I don’t feel much in the curling rink, in the skating rink I do (laughter). But this is our community, we’re here all the time. I mean, it is kind of funny to walk back in, I play beer-league over there, to remember kind of the first time we ever skated together and, you know, we talk about inspiring kids but what we try and inspire kids to do is sports for pleasure, and that’s all it was for us, we weren’t skating to win the Olympics when we were skating in this building. I think there’s so much that has to go back into putting pleasure back into sport, that’s what we think about; I think about not being able to hold Tessa’s hand or talk to Tessa or being so shy that -those are the memories that come in -rushing back and pretty much when we were skating all we were worried about was if we could go up and get ice cream afterwards or not, wasn’t very thoughtful. (laughter and unintelligible jokes)

I: How often do your families get together nowadays? Or maybe...

SM: How often do our families see us, I think is the better question. I mean, I think my mom, or our moms, forgot what we look like when we came home, we were in Japan until July 12th, so uh, it’s been a busy ride, we wanted it to be, we knew it would be, but our families do get together, that’s what they really missed. Coming back, these last couple of years it’s been fun to travel together again and I think our families feel that, especially our moms being able to share so many experiences over twenty-one years, I mean, that was every family vacation was to a skating competition, so it’s a special bond. We were always lucky, I mean, we see a lot of young dance teams, we always felt like we hit the jackpot with the Virtues, I mean I don’t know how Tessa feels about us.

TV: We just had that conversation, too,…(SM: it was more of a friendship), our families were paired up for twenty-one years, and how lucky are we that everyone just adores one another and really cherished that time but just, you know, got such support from the Moirs and uh, yeah, I mean, they’re family, they’re my family too.

I: Yeah, and you know, I think your dad said that when you make friends with a Moir you got a friend for life.

SM: ‘till you cross me, Ryan. (laughter) That’s the motto of the whole community here, I mean it’s nice that we get to put our name on this but at the same time, we don’t make this happen, there’s a committee, and the volunteers, very similar people - same people actually - that put together the 2010 celebration had a lot of work in this and what a special day it is for us to just be able to be here and kind of have the platform that we have.

I: You have a black eye?

SM: I missed the ball. Slow pitch, missed the ball. 

I: What were you playing, what position?

SM: I don’t wanna talk about it. (I: Were you pitching?) No, I was out, I was in the outfield, I was running in for one of the guys and…

I: (overlapped jokes) Did you dive for it?

SM: No, I missed it completely, it was bad, but (TV: the sun was in his eyes) I caught about seven or eight in the other game so I’m good.

I: What’s next for you two? What’s the next goal?

SM: Well we have a tour coming up, the Thank You Canada Tour.

I: After that

SM: which is exciting… well that’s a big part of it for us because it’s, we’re part of the production team for that tour and I think what happens after that will depend on how this tour goes. 

I: it goes until the end of November

SM: And we’re really excited to go into - yeah October November - and it’s going into a whole bunch of different markets in this country that many of which we have never played before and we’re really excited about that. So we’re pumped about that project and its gonna take us awhile to kind of, to catch our breath, probably will be after that. So then we’ll have to reevaluate. Tessa and I, both have a lot of goals that we want to get done but - in skating and not in skating - but it’s a short life and we’ve got to plan out these next eighty years.

I: One day at a time.

(distant shouting): EIGHTY?

Interviewer 5: What can fans expect from the Thank You Canada Tour?

SM: What can’t they expect?

TV: Yeah, I mean, it’s such a neat time for us to step into the co-producer roles, I think it’s the right moment for us, we dreamed of taking the reins and putting our own stamp on a tour and I think it just feels right, we have a good team of people around us, uh, after competing and winning with the team in Pyeongchang, we know the cast couldn’t be better and we wanna shake things up a little bit, and hopefully showcase skating in the entertainment realm a little bit differently, we’ve been brainstorming a lot with our creative team, we can’t wait to get to Montreal to build the tour, we’ll be working really hard on that over the next couple months.

I: Do you guys, are you gonna train for that, or when you go back to Montreal?

TV: Yes, we’ll head there (SM: September), next month, the beginning of next month, we’ll meet the team and get all the pieces in place and we wanna go into that sharp and healthy and trained, ready to go, and we wanna put our best foot forward. It’ll feel nice, I mean, that structure and that goal will be great for us to work towards.

SM: We really wanna push ourselves with this tour, like Tessa said. The reason why we wanted to do a project like this is because we missed the competitiveness of amateur skating, it’s why we went back, we wanna find something that kind of pushes us like that, I think that’s this tour, this Thank You Canada Tour.

I: Thanks, man.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are many things: the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history, the first North American ice dance team to win Olympic gold, the youngest ice dance team to win Olympic gold, newest Canadian Walk of Fame inductees and captors of the hearts of many fans from around Canada and the rest of the world. One thing they would assuredly want on that list is that they are endlessly grateful to the Ilderton community that has supported them since the birthdate of their partnership, going on twenty-one years ago. This was the tone of the “Thank You Ilderton” parade and party that took place Saturday afternoon at the Ilderton Arena and Curling Club.

The parade proceeded down a packed Ilderton Road with folks from the community and surrounding areas on the sweltering and sunny afternoon.  Community businesses and organizations, including this year’s NHL Kraft Hockeyville winning team from Lucan, marched out ahead of the event hosts, Virtue and Moir, who glowed with an Olympic-sized appreciation for the passionately supportive community of Ilderton.

“Nothing can prepare you for a moment like that… it’s pretty special” responded Moir, when asked about the crowd’s vibe. Many children couldn’t contain their excitement in seeing their hometown heroes, some even running out to the parade car for a high-five or a picture, and the iconic duo was more than happy to oblige.

“It’s not even about us today, it’s really about the community,” said Virtue, of the event to the media inside the Curling arena following the parade.

A series of local artists took the stage behind the Arena, culminating in a two-hour performance from multi-Juno award-winning country music star Paul Brandt. Children’s activities carried on in the cool barn, and a multitude of food trucks and beer stands kept guests fed and refreshed with anything from doughnuts to grilled cheese to Kelsey’s. As advertised, it was a day for families from the greater area to enjoy time with each other and to celebrate the community bond that was so paramount in bolstering up Virtue and Moir throughout every one of their successes.