SPARWOOD, British Columbia (AP) - Thousands of people gathered in the small mining town of Sparwood, British Columbia, Sunday to bid a final farewell to eight local snowmobilers who were doing what they loved when they died last weekend in a string of avalanches.

To the strains of bagpipers, mourners filed in to the local hockey arena, where the photos of the eight victims were on display on a makeshift stage, flanked at either end by a pair of snowmobiles. Flowers and photo montages decorated the front of the platform.

The memorial service capped a week of public mourning for the eight, who were among a group of 11 caught up in snowslides in the mountainous Harvey Valley in the southeastern British Columbia interior.

The victims were Daniel Bjarnson, 28; Kurt Kabel, 28; Warren Rothel, 33; Kane Rusnak, 30; Thomas Talarico, 32; Blayne Wilson, 26; Michael Stier, 20, and Stier's 45-year-old father, Leonard Stier.

They were struck by a succession of avalanches that came down a slope.