Sometime after 2 p.m. on Thursday, the city’s pulse started to race perceptibly, as a pulse does in anticipation of a grand social event.

It was about this time that your intrepid observer sat on a wooden plank bench on the frozen Rideau Canal near Waverly St., and pulled on his old Tack skates to see what all the fuss is about.

On any old day, there is no better way to see the Nation’s Capital in January than on the world’s largest skating rink, and this was not any old day. This was Day 1 of the All-Star Game Weekend, and just across the way a small army of young hockey players — Timbits as they’re known — were lined up behind a string of tiny sleighs, on which rested the most glorious trophies in hockey. The Hart, the Norris, the Jack Adams . . .

“Here it comes,” someone shouted from the crowd, a hockey-savvy group that knew exactly what was coming. Sure enough, out from a white tent, Lord Stanley’s chalice emerged to take its place in the final sleigh as cameras moved in for the kill. Like a precious child, the Stanley Cup was cradled lovingly and set into place to the requisite oohs and ahhs of several hundred spectators – nearly every last one of them, like me, on blades. To a tourist watching from the nearby roadside, it must have looked strange, like stumbling upon some bizarre tribe, all these people, young and old, wearing skates as naturally as if born in them.

The air was crisp, skies light and the ice surprisingly even despite the uneven weather lately. For Friday, a yucky mess was part of the forecast, but not on this afternoon as the skaters embarked on their holy mission, an on-ice, trophy-laden procession to the foot of the Convention Centre for the 3 p.m. Launch of All Star Fan Fair.

“Where else in the world could you stand on a frozen canal and watch little kids skating by with a bunch of hockey trophies,” said Michael Harrison, a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, marveling at the scene. “We’re kind of crazy. But it’s wonderful.”

Where else indeed. This was the genius of the Ottawa all-star bid, incorporating the downtown core, the canal, and the newly christened ‘Rink of Dreams’ at city hall into the fabric of the ASG.

Unlike in 1905, nobody drop-kicked Lord Stanley’s mug into the canal, as the Silver Seven so infamously did after defending a Cup challenge from Dawson City, of all places. Ah, those wild days when the Cup was but a kid.

Part of the beauty of Ottawa is its small town feel, and inside the doors of Fan Fair, hockey becomes a small world. Turn around, see a familiar face.

Look, there goes Barry Melrose, who coached Wayne Gretzky with the Los Angeles Kings.

Laurie Boschman, the original Senators captain, tells a story on the way to sign autographs with Shean Donovan and Montreal Canadiens legend Yvan Cournoyer. Seems Boschman and the Roadrunner were at a Truro, N.S. banquet when Boschman told the crowd: “Between the two of us, Yvan and I have won 10 Stanley Cups.”

The crowd buzzes in appreciation.

“Yvan,” Bochman says, leaning over to him with the mike, “how many Cups have you won?”

“Ten.”

At the Citizen booth at Fan Fair, a familiar hockey dad and his son, Sheldon drop by, a boy I coached in Initiation Program hockey nearly 10 years ago.

And there’s Mayor Jim Watson, yes, good to see you, too.

“I never see you anymore,” says Hissoner. “You’re always out covering hockey instead of city politics.”

For that I give daily thanks.

Up the escalator to the second floor, just beyond the myriad puck shooting platforms, sits Senators all-star defenceman Erik Karlsson, calmly fielding questions from broadcaster Gord Wilson while dozens of fans patiently wait for the talking to end so the autograph signing can begin.

It wouln’t be long before Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was over on another platform, a guest on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s NHL Hour program, hinting at playing another season, Good news everywhere.

We run into Senators head coach Paul MacLean, always at ease, behind a bench or in a crowd of strangers. As the trophies are piped in, followed by the Hockey Night In Canada theme, the coach cuts the ribbon for the opening ceremony, while Senators president Cyril Leeder, mayor Watson and Convention Centre president Pat Kelly stand by.

“It’s a pleasure to be a part of it,” MacLean says. “Our fans did such a great job getting our (four) players into the game and the organization has done a great job getting things ready.”

The evening scene shifts to Lac Leamy where Alfredsson and Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara pick sides for Sunday’s game.

With that, Ottawa’s All-Star Weekend is off and running, in Alfredsson’s words, “off to a great start.”