From its beginning in 1972 as a joint effort between the Galt Rotary Club and Saginaw Township, and
for the next 35 years, the Can-Amera Games was an annual summer goodwill sporting competition between Saginaw Townships, Michigan and Cambridge, Ontario.

In its first year, teams from Galt and Saginaw Township competed against each other for the Friendship and Goodwill trophies. The Games grew to include outlying townships (Swan Creek, James and Thomas Townships) and the new city of Cambridge.

The Games were centered on friendly competition in a variety of sports, with participants ranging in age from youths to adults.

On home years, the host community would billet vis­iting youth for Can-Amera weekend.
The first Games were hosted by Saginaw Township,setting the stage for what became an annual tradition where busloads of Canadian and American athletes made the trek across the border. The first event of the Games was traditionally the Olympic-style torch run, which arrived in time for the opening cermemonies.

Many friendships and at least one marriage resulted from Can-Amera. At their peak, nearly 2,500 athletes, coaches, trainers, supporters, friends and relatives made the trek from one community to the other each summer for Can-Amera weekend.

For almost four decades Can-Amera was a traditional rite of summer for both communites. The Games relied on a large number of volunteers over the years, from the coaching ranks to the committees in both commu­nities who made Can-Amera one of the most success­ful, and longest-running international goodwill games between Canadian and American communities.