When Burlington's Summer Games Were B.I.G.

For more than 40 years, Burlington hosted a summer sporting event where every participant shared one thing in common: their hometown was named Burlington. The Burlington International Games, or B.I.G., began in 1968 as a goodwill exchange between Burlington, Ontario and Burlington, Vermont, with the first games held in Vermont in 1969.

Every summer the two cities traded off hosting, billeting young athletes with local families for a week of soccer, baseball, swimming, tennis and more. Try-outs were open to Burlington residents aged 10 to 17. Burlington, Iowa later joined, turning it into a three-city rotation.

By the late 1990s the invitation had gone international, with teams from Itabashi, Japan; Apeldoorn, Netherlands; Longueuil, Quebec; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The games marked their 40th anniversary in Burlington in 2009, closing out at Spencer Smith Park with live music and fireworks.

The games wound down in 2010 as interest, funding, volunteers and host families all thinned out. What is left is four decades of friendships and a summer tradition a lot of Burlington residents still remember.