County of Brant Library is currently preparing for its upcoming event titled, Unstoppable: An Olympic Celebration, which will be held on Sunday, January 18, 2026.
The event will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Create Well event space in Paris at 70 Hartley Ave., and feature three Olympic athletes: Angela Schneider, Claire Scheffel and Garrett Riley.
Emma Johnston, who handles the library’s program and outreach services, said the event is designed to help get the community excited for the upcoming 2026 Olympics and promote athleticism at every stage of life.
“All of our athletes come from very different walks of life, and so we’re going to talk a little bit about resilience, what it takes to succeed in what you put your mind to, overcoming adversity and just living the lifestyle that sort of jives with who you are,” she said. “It’s going to be set up like a panel discussion so I will be the facilitator, and I will be asking each of them different questions to answer and I think it’s going to be really fun because people will actually get a chance to talk to these athletes and just mix and mingle as well.”
Johnston said part of her excitement is due in large part to the fact that each of the athletes have such diverse perspectives and experiences to share with the community.
“Garrett Riley played in the Paralympic Games in 2022 in Beijing. He’s a silver medalist and he was also recently inducted into the Brantford Sports Hall of Fame. He’s just huge in the community and so we’re really thrilled to have him on our panel,” she said. “We also have Claire Scheffel, who is an artistic swimmer and also from Brantford; she participated in the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris. She’s at a very exciting stage in her journey of athleticism, having been so successful so young, and so it will be interesting to sort of see things from her perspective as well. Our third athlete is Dr. Angela Schneider; she’s a professor of kinesiology at Western University and won a silver medal for rowing in the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Not only was she an Olympic athlete, but she was also the director of education at the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), so she’s been working with the Olympics committee in some capacity for decades.”
Johnston added that while much of the library’s programming is often targeted towards specific demographics depending on the topic, she’s hoping this particular event will be intergenerational.
“I think this is really going to hit a huge age range. We’re really hoping it’s going to bring in students, other athletes within the community, our regular library crowd and anybody who’s excited about the Olympics in general!” she said. “I think any time we can all come together around a common interest, it really just strengthens the community and you start to meet new people who are interested in the same kinds of things as you or who want to talk about the same kind of ideas as you. It’s just such a fun thing and our small towns need that; we need to keep building those spaces of community.”
Johnston added that that’s what makes the library so special; it’s not just a place to check out and read books, but to engage with the community, tap into various resources and to promote lifelong learning.
“I think we are rewriting the narrative, you know? Yes, we have great books, but we’re rewriting it to be a space for lifelong learning,” she said. “…Anybody of any age can come to the library and learn about something. And I sort of like that there’s been this reinterpretation of what a library is and what it means to educate ourselves, to find resources to help further our own personal growth, and our own learning in whatever capacity that looks like. It’s something I get really excited about and I think events like this one really provide our community an opportunity to learn from other people and inspire ourselves.”
Johnston added that she was also thankful to Create Well and their sponsor for making the event possible
“We’re really lucky because Create Well, with the support of Sarah Kirby Insurance, are providing us with this state-of-the-art, gorgeous facility for this event,” she said. “It’s been so nice to have them on board and doing this for us, especially because they’re excited about being able to promote local athletes and to be able to offer free events to the community. We’ve never worked with them before, but I think it’s going to be a really good collaboration and I’m so thankful for that.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
