Border stop at Blaine for keepers of the flame

If you're curious about seeing the Olympic torch shine on a bit of Western Washington, you may want to:

1) Set your alarm clock for a very early hour Tuesday

2) Avoid stepping into the "security envelope"

The Olympic flame, in the final stages of its 28,000-mile relay back and forth across Canada, will dip down to the Washington border about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday for a brief ceremony at Peace Arch Park, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border at Blaine.

The Peace Arch visit comes three days before the flame is due to light the Olympic Cauldron in Vancouver's B.C. Place to open the 2010 Winter Olympics.

By the end of its journey, the flame will have spent 106 days on the road and been carried on 3-pound torches by more than 12,000 Canadians. Along the way, it has been conveyed on dozens of forms of transportation, from runners on foot to torchbearers on dog sled, kayak, tomato harvester, snowmobile and an ice-resurfacing machine.

Plans for the Peace Arch stop call for an exchange of the flame between Canadian and American torchbearers and a "Fire Keeper" ceremony with representatives of the Semiahmoo First Nation, based in nearby Surrey, B.C.

Dignitaries will be on hand, as will members of the black-clad security team who've guarded the flame on the Odyssey that has taken it through some 1,000 communities across Canada.

Off-duty police officers, wearing black running suits with Olympic rings on the back, flank the torchbearer in a "security envelope" that not even the news media is allowed to penetrate, according to the "Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit," a multiagency task force headed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Although the flame has been warmly welcomed by hundreds, if not thousands, of celebrants at many of its stops, demonstrators have disrupted the relay on several occasions. Critics of the Olympics have cited the historic treatment of native tribes, environmental effects of Olympic projects and the idea of spending billions to stage athletic events while social services are sharply cut.

In Ontario, a demonstrator was arrested and charged with assault after a woman carrying the torch was knocked to the ground. One reporter said the torchbearer may have fallen after bumping into a police officer responding to the protest.

The Peace Arch stop comes early in a day that will see the torch travel 90 miles and be carried by some 220 torchbearers, starting in Surrey and ending in Richmond, Vancouver's southern suburb.

Torch-relay organizers say the half-hour Peace Arch event — like the Peace Arch itself — is intended to honor and celebrate the spirit of kinship between the U.S. and Canada.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell are to speak, and chorale groups will sing the American and Canadian national anthems.

Spectators are advised to arrive early, but they don't need to go through customs stations because the Peace Arch monument can be reached on foot from parking lots on either side of the border.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com