Coming up next week in Buchanan will be an Olympic watch party as hometown BMX hero Hannah Roberts competes in Paris.
Buchanan Community Development Director Richard Murphy tells us when Roberts competed in Japan in 2021, around 2,000 to 3,000 people came out to the Buchanan Common to watch on the Jumbotron.
“Anyone who was there will never forget it,” Murphy said. “It was a memorable evening. It’s kind of indelible in the memories of Buchanan. So now we’ve had three years of Hannah ramping up in the world championships and just becoming such a great ambassador for the sport and for the city of Buchanan. So this is like a big moment.”
Murphy says NBC News called the 2021 watch party the “World’s Biggest Olympic Watch Party,” and now they’re doing it again.
Since Roberts will compete at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 31, everyone’s invited to the Common at that time. Then they’ll gather to watch it again at 7 p.m.
“We know Hannah’s going to prove us proud no matter what happens. We hope to have all of Buchanan out there cheering her on.”
Murphy expects if Roberts does well in the morning, the evening watch party will be huge. He says food trucks will be on hand, and they’ll watch archival footage of Roberts competing in BMX.
Buchanan Mayor Sean Denison says next week’s watch party could once again put a national spotlight on the community.
