Tuesday seemed like just another lazy, hazy summer day in the city.

But that sure wasn’t the case on and around Joe Sakic Way.

The Burnaby Lake Sports Complex is the epicentre of the 2009 World Police and Fire Games this week, having been transformed into the Burnaby Games Village.

Participants and spectators wandered and wended their way up and down the street. They wore shirts proclaiming they were from places like Brasilia, San Diego or Nederland.

They went past the tattoo booth with the young woman running it wearing an FDNY basketball T-shirt. Recruitment booths from all sorts of government agencies dotted the street, alongside the lemonade stand, merchandise booths and the food stands selling Philly cheesesteaks, specialty sausages and spring rolls.

At the end of the street, the complex’s parking lot has been converted into a gigantic beer garden capable of holding 3,000 imbibers while they watch soccer games or listen to the entertainment on the big stage in the southeast corner.

Next door at 8-Rinks, a busy place at this time of year with summer hockey camps, was even more so. In fact, it was almost as hectic as GM Place during a Vancouver Canucks game. When the FDNY hockey team hit the ice they had tons of support from fellow New York firefighters wearing FDNY soccer, basketball and rugby shirts.

A couple of rinks over, a fan wearing a Russian hockey jersey watched a game as a long lineup formed at the facilities grill.

Across Kensington Avenue, Bill Copeland Arena was all dressed up for that night’s boxing card while the Burnaby Tennis Club was teeming with activity.

Burnaby has been putting on its best face for the Games. The Central Valley is showing why it’s the premier amateur sporting location in the Lower Mainland, capable of handling a ton of sports. On top of soccer, hockey and tennis, it’s been the site for archery, rugby, flag football and tug-of-war. And then there are also places like SFU, BCIT, Central Park and Riverway Sports Complex that are also shining this week.

It’s hard to go anywhere in the city and not see evidence of the Games. If it’s not the athletes riding SkyTrain or shopping in Metrotown, it’s the volunteers with their bright purple shirts.

(Just as an aside, the official clothing line for the 2009 Games is a spiffy mixture of red, black and white. Classic colours that look terrific but putting the nice logo on purple shirts is jarring. However, if the reason for going with the purple was to make it easy for participants and spectators to spot them they certainly serve that purpose, whether anyone’s eyes like it or not.)

The Games are proving what Burnaby is capable of. Mayor Derek Corrigan has frequently hyped the city as a potential mecca for sports. This will give him the ammunition to back that up.

The city is already going ahead with dredging Burnaby Lake so it can regain its status as an international rowing and paddling facility. There are also plans for a baseball complex just to the north of Joe Sakic Way, and talk of a track and field facility at Burnaby Central.

The one blight, however, is the stalled Pacific Multisport Centre of Excellence that sits idle right next door to the Burnaby Games Village. Admittedly it’s a private project, but if it ever gets built it would enhance the “sports mecca” reputation. That crane must be getting awfully lonely sitting there with nothing to do and no one to operate it.

It’s been a slow, steady progression to get the city’s facilities to the level they’re at. It would be a shame if that progression came to a standstill after these Games are over.

Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that will be the case.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com