This year the Special Olympics World games are to be held in Los Angeles later this summer and the torch relay, billed as the Flame Of Hope relay, will make a stop this weekend at Guthrie Green located in the Brady Arts District in downtown Tulsa.

Every two years, Special Olympics athletes come together to compete at the Special Olympics World Games. This summer, over 7,000 athletes from 177 countries will descend upon Los Angeles while demonstrating the true meaning of courage, joy and determination.

Guthrie Green

At its most basic level, the Torch Run is an actual running event, in which law enforcement officers and athletes run the Flame of Hope™ to the Opening Ceremony of local Special Olympics competitions as well as State, National and World Games.

The torch is making a 46-day tour through the United States on its way to Los Angeles. In 2015, the Flame of Hope will be lit from the rays of the sun in Greece, the home of the Olympics, and will travel across the sea to the United States where it will journey to communities throughout the country and Southern California, ending at the Opening Ceremony in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

Guthrie Green

Festivities in Tulsa will kick off at 5:45pm with a demonstration of bocce, (lawn bowling), and a live band will perform. Eskimo Joe and Buffy, the mascots for Eskimo Joes in Stillwater will be on hand for the kids and everything will culminate at 6:30pm when the torch arrives and a ceremonial cauldron will be lit.

A similar event will take place at the Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City on Monday.