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July 6, 2015 Updated : July 6, 2015 | 11:15 am

Pan Am flame lights up Aga Khan Park’s debut

By Jessica Smith Cross Metro

Torstar News Service

Aga Khan Park is seen in a June 4 file photo.

The flame for the Pan Am games was a big attraction in the city Sunday, but first the people of Don Mills had a park to welcome.

Visitors to the first major public event at the beautiful Aga Khan Park had plenty to enjoy. The park, located between the Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre, has reflecting pools, green spaces and trees.

People were treated to yoga sessions, a souk bazaar with food and drinks, performances on the main stage, more performances by the artists roving the grounds, and kids’ activities zone with Zumba dancing and face painting for kids, and henna for mothers.

In the evening, they welcomed the Pan Am flame, which arrived not in torch form but in the lantern that’s used to preserve it overnight.

With a crowd there for the event, the volunteers who run the park on behalf of the Aga Khan Museum decided to take the opportunity to ask vistors what they would like to see it become.

“Today, in one of our booths we’re focus-grouping and asking people what appeals to them,” said Karim Ladak, who runs all activities at the park. “We did a poll with 300 of our volunteers last week and we’re doing a broader poll today.”

The idea, he said, is to offer both free and commercial activities, possibly including walking and yoga programming, to barbeques, jazz festivals and private events.

“We’re also planning to serve, down the line, pie in the park,” he said. “All of these things, you need and business model for and we’re working our way to it. But to me, the future of the park, and this community, is very exciting.”

The Aga Khan Museum, which opened in 2014, was set up with support from the Aga Khan, a British businessman and hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, and showcases some of his personal collection of Islamic art.

In the future, the park will have its own management company to run events, said Ladak.