On Wednesday evening, Guthrie tweeted out a video thanking those businesses directly and announcing the city was seeking to install a more permanent screen in Market Square.

“Community gatherings like (the Raptors viewing party) are very important not only to the community, but to myself as the mayor, to council, to staff, and we wanted to be able to do more events like that in the future,” Guthrie said in his post.

Reached by phone on Thursday, Guthrie said during the Raptors' playoff run Storm fans reached out to him lamenting that the city didn't have a giant screen to show Storm games during the Memorial Cup in Halifax.

"They're exactly right," he said. "These are the opportunities that present themselves."

Guthrie said if a permanent screen was made available, this type of equipment could be used to display more than just movies or sporting events. A downtown screen could showcase art or be used in other cultural events.

Available rain or shine

With a permanent screen in place, public gatherings and viewings could be held in any type of weather, rain or shine.

The City of Guelph had to cancel the viewing party for Game 5 of the NBA finals because of the wind.

“With blow-up screens, wind was a huge obstacle for us,” Evans said.

She said a viewing party in Waterloo went ahead with Game 5 but the wind blew the screen around. The Uptown Waterloo BIA later said it was unable to find a screen to rent for Game 6, which ended up being the final game.

Gusty winds whipped an inflatable projection screen around during the start of a viewing of the @Raptors game in downtown #Kitchener. #basketball #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/tSdr3uejqu — Mathew McCarthy (@McCarthyRecord) June 11, 2019

Evans said if a permanent screen is purchased, it won’t be inflatable. It might be a motorized screen or some other permanent installation that can be pulled out and set up with short notice. To organize a viewing with a rental screen, it could take more than a week to schedule a setup date through the rental company.

She said a cost estimate to install a permanent screen is not yet known, but could be more that $100,000. The total amount will be included in the 2020 capital budget and, if approved, the screen could be installed as early as next spring.

“Maybe in time for the Storm to be in the playoffs again,” Evans said.

The City of Guelph is looking for more support to help with the purchase of this screen, offering up advertising space, logos and recognition events to be held for any corporate sponsorship received.