One-year countdown to Toronto Pan/Parapan Am Games will be celebrated with kickoff at Nathan Phillips Square

Torontonians will get a glimpse of the festivities to come when the official one-year countdown to the Pan/Parapan Am Games takes place at Nathan Phillips Square on July 11 and 12.

The Pan Am Games will take place from July 10-26, 2015 and are followed by the Parapan Am Games which run from August 7-15 in Toronto and 16 surrounding municipalities.

A wide variety of artists from musicians and dancers to painters will be show off their skills in front of city hall this Friday and Saturday while a group of high performance athletes will demonstrate various skills, drills and tricks in several different sports.

Highlights include a 3-point shot competition with Greivis Vasquez of the Toronto Raptors and a concert by soca artist Machel Montano - both appearances will happen on Saturday, the latter will cap the two-day kickoff.

An interactive countdown clock to the games will be unveiled to start the event at 11:45 a.m. on Friday.

Aside from trying to throw a big party and generate hype, the organizing committee opted for a two-day celebration, in part, to gauge the logistics of the square.

"In the summer of 2015, for 26 days we will be having a celebration at Nathan Phillips Square (the duration of both the Pan/Parapan Am Games)," said Iris Nemani, the managing director of arts and culture for the Toronto 2015 organizing committee. "This is a test event culturally and two days is a good window.

"Nathan Phillips Square will be central hub during the games. It is in our mission statement "to ignite the spirit through a celebration of sport and culture", arts and culture are an integral part of that experience. It is a way to bring people together."

Weaving arts and culture into global sporting events such as the Olympics and World Cup is commonplace for a host city and it is clear that Toronto 2015 organizers are attempting to distinguish themselves in terms of what is presented from its Pan Am predecessor - Guadalajara 2011 .

"The unique thing we have in Toronto is that all 41 (competing Pan-American) nations have a community and cultural presence here," Nemani said. "(Guadalajara) Mexcio was uniquely different than Toronto (in that regard). Programmatically, the focus is on the Americas, to showcase the Americas artistically. Canada and the U.S. are part of the Americas, 70-75 percent will be telling the Canadian story through many different threads using emerging and established artists from Toronto and (the rest) of Canada."

Of the $1.4 billion total budget (which excludes the athletes village), $11 million has been allocated for the arts and culture program. This figure does not include the opening and closing ceremonies.

"There is commitment to creating a celebration at games time," Nemani said. "We are working with that budget to deliver an incredible experience."

The budget, primarily concerning infrastructure for Toronto 2015 has been making news in the past month, most recently when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced earlier this week that the completion of their new stadium would be delayed. The site is slated to host soccer for the Pan Am Games.

"We are disappointed about the delay, we know many Hamiltonians and football fans are too," said Teddy Katz, a Hamiltonian who is director of media relations and chief spokesperson for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games. "We know the stadium is going to get done well before the games so everyone can enjoy what a great facility it will be. People are going to be amazed when they see the finished product."

Katz says the organizing committee is happy with where things currently stand.

"With one year to go, the majority of our biggest venues are very close to being completed. For an organizing committee that is a great position to be in." said Katz. "You have to consider that of that $1.4 billion budget, $674 million is going toward sport infrastructure," said Katz. "It is the largest (single) investment in infrastructure in Canadian history, I believe. It's going to leave an incredible legacy."

Follow Neil Acharya on Twitter: @Neil_Acharya