Residents of the Greenside Estates townhouse complex gathered at Rockwell's Bar and Grill for party to congratulate their neighbour, Maëlle Ricker on her most recent achievement - becoming the first Canadian woman to win a gold medal on home soil.
"It's really nice to connect with a bunch of the neighbours that I haven't seen," said Ricker, who's been living at the complex for nearly five years.
Dozens of people stood around Ricker waiting for their chance to snap a photo and chat with the three-time Olympian, and by the looks of it, Ricker took the time to speak each one of them.
Ricker said she's been carrying her medal around with her practically everywhere she goes and added it's especially fun to show kids. And observing the dozen youngsters at the evening's celebration, it's obvious kids look up to her.
"I'm the only kid in my class that lives only five doors down from her," said seven-year old Graham Sayle. "I've been telling [my classmates] that I live close to the lady who won a gold medal and she's from Squamish."
Like Sayle, eight-year-old Aden Medcraft was eager to express his newfound enthusiasm for Olympic sports.
"I love sports. I'm going to be a luger and do the skeleton," Aden said.
Sayle added, "I'm going to play two sports - ice hockey and baseball."
Ricker said she's enjoyed being a role model for kids.
"It's really cool. I think that's what's so incredible about the power of sport. And they're so cute."
Also in attendance was Ricker's father Karl, who said even as a child, his daughter showed potential as a world-class athlete.
"She was an athlete all her life. We knew at a very early age from several coaches that Maëlle was an Olympic athlete, but we didn't know what sport it was going to be in."
Karl said his daughter mastered practically every sport she tried including soccer, track and field, and ski racing.
When she won the gold, Karl said he was relieved because she was always gold medal potential, and this time she won.
Jason Medcraft, one of the many neighbours who helped organize the neighbourhood party said the whole experience really brought their community closer together.
"People lived there and they never knew anybody, until now. It was like this explosion. It was like the whole Olympic spirit for all of Canada done in a Petri dish," he said.
"To think that somebody you live next to can really get to the top. So it doesn't matter who you are, you can get to the top."
Medcraft said he's spent the last two years trying to get the neighbourhood together to form a block watch group and until now, it's been impossible.
"Maëlle achieved what I've been trying to do for two years by going from the top of Cypress Mountain to the bottom. Everybody is very keen on meeting each other now. It's really, really opened up the community to kind of want to interact with each other."
