Edmonton Folk Music Festival bringing in sand to event grounds in response to city’s rainy summer
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Edmonton’s signature outdoor music festival is trucking in tonnes of sand and pumping out water to avoid becoming the latest casualty of the city’s wettest summer on record.
Terry Wickham, who has been co-ordinating the folk music festival for nearly four decades, says this year’s event has likely been the hardest to plan because Edmonton has seen record-breaking rainfall.
“The festival site has taken over two feet of rain since June, so it’s very damp there right now,” he said Tuesday.
The four-day music festival gets underway on Thursday.
“We have about 200 tonnes of sand that we’re bringing in just so people can walk and aren’t slipping and sliding on muck all over the place,” Wickham said.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has said Edmonton had been saturated by 580 millimetres of summer rain as of last week, beating the record set in 1953 when 417 millimetres of rain fell from June through August.
WATCH | Rainy weather having impact on festivals in Edmonton area:
Stormy weather shaking up Edmonton-area festivals
Heavy rain and wind continue to sweep through the Edmonton area. And while the stormy summer continues, festivals in the region are left feeling the pinch. The CBC’s Tristan Mottershead reports.
The rainstorms have flooded streets, campsites and dampened summer plans. More tornadoes than usual have also touched down across Alberta due to the severe weather.
This past weekend, a rainstorm forced the Edmonton Heritage Festival to reduce hours due to more high winds and wet weather.
Weather has also so far cancelled or delayed the city’s Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, the KDays fair, a Post Malone concert and an appearance by the singer Kesha. Some local attractions such as the city’s science centre have been temporarily closed due to flooding.
Wickham said he’s confident his nearly sold-out festival will go ahead. But he said he has triple-checked the evacuation plan in case another rainstorm strikes.
“I’m concerned, but I’m also confident in our site crew,” he said.
Wickham said organizers feel prepared because the festival’s success in previous years has allowed organizers “to put money away — literally — for a rainy day.”
“We won’t skimp on construction materials,” he said.
Megan Dart, the executive director of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, North America’s largest such event, said she and her team have taken extra steps in planning for their event, which begins next week.
“This year we are preparing for a wider range of weather scenarios,” she said.
“That preparation includes things like enhanced emergency response planning.”
The festival has also hired a meteorologist to track daily weather conditions.
“Edmontonians have experienced an extraordinary summer of severe weather,” Dart said. “It has definitely changed how we’re preparing for festivals.”
