The Special Olympics State Summer Games begin tomorrow at the University of Montana campus. Undersheriff Jason Johnson said the torch, or “flame of hope,” arrived over the weekend.

"The Missoula County Sheriff's Office conducted their leg of the run coming in from the county line from the Polson area. The Missoula Police Department conducted their leg of the run coming in from Drummond," Johnson said. "Tuesday night at 5 o'clock it will gather up as a torch run team and bring the torch onto the field at the Osprey Stadium."

Volunteer Alan Kessler said over 1,100 athletes, 500 coaches, families and friends from across the state will arrive today with competition beginning tomorrow.

"The athletes will start competing on Wednesday and Wednesday evening is the big event. That's opening ceremonies," Kessler said. "It's going to be held outside at Washington Grizzly Stadium. We would like everybody and anybody to attend somewhere around 6:30 p.m. It's free and open to the public."

Kessler said over 2,000 volunteers are set to help at the games this week, making the games the largest volunteer event in the state.

Maps and schedules of events can be found here.

Catch a live feed of the opening ceremonies on the Special Olympics state games app, which can be downloaded in the iTunes app store or Google Play.

More From 94.9 KYSS FM