Heather Wright/The Independent

Forest is planning a couple of celebrations for their hometown hero Tyler McGregor.

The captain of Canada’s Paralympic hockey team won silver at the Olympics this year as his community cheered him on.

Decals and prints were created by locals, including Brian Richardson, with the proceeds from their sales going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, McGregor’s favourite charity. The decals could be seen in windows throughout town during the Olympics.

Richardson says on May 9, the community group is hosting McGregor at the Forest Legion and plan to present him with the proceeds of the campaign and to show their pride in McGregor’s accomplishments.

“The people in Forest, are very proud of him, and I sense from his interviews, he’s pretty proud of Forest, too,” says Richardson. “It’s not, often a small town, or any town, gets to recognize one of their minor hockey players has moved on to become the captain of a national team.”

May 9, around 1:45 pm, McGregor will be part of a short parade from the corner of King and Albert Street to the Legion which all are welcome to attend.

“He’ll be arriving on the antique fire truck from Forest.

“Of course, that’s a tradition in small towns,” says Richardson noting McGregor’s dad was once a volunteer firefighter.

About 300 people will get a seat in the hall at 2 pm to hear McGregor speak and possibly get an autograph.

Meantime, the North Lambton Community Centre’s Inspire Youth program will be hosting McGregor May 12 at The Shores arena. He’ll be playing road hockey with kids from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

McGregor will also be available for photos and autographs during the event.