A number of fans of the annual K-Days parade were disappointed Friday morning, after the route for the parade was altered at the last minute.
At the last minute, spectators who had staked out spots to watch the K-Days parade Friday morning were forced to move, after organizers decided to change the route to go south on 101 Street towards Jasper Avenue, instead of north from 102 Avenue.
Due to spectator volume #KDaysParade is diverted @ corner of 102Ave & 100St. Now going South on 100St to 101aAve @kday
— City of Edmonton (@CityofEdmonton) July 22, 2016
As a result, a number of fans were left scrambling for a new spot.
Ppl who saved spots on 100 St disappointed. Parade was supposed to come back up this way but was rerouted S. #yeg pic.twitter.com/iFVY7zPJv8
— Nicole Weisberg (@NWeisbergCTV) July 22, 2016
"...to allow for the large number of floats participating in the parade this year." -EPS @PaulBrosseau @ctvedmonton
— Nicole Weisberg (@NWeisbergCTV) July 22, 2016
Northlands told CTV News their organization did not make the ultimate call on the change.
“We work with the City of Edmonton and they determine the route and we try to communicate that as best as possible,” Lori Cote, a spokesperson for Northlands, said.
The City said they had little choice when they saw crowds gathered on the road they wanted the parade to turn onto.
“Instead of trying to clear the roadway, we made the decision, along with Northlands, that it would be better for the public experience and for safety reasons to turn the floats southbound as opposed to northbound,” Julie Stormer with the City of Edmonton said.
“We apologize for that, but as you know some decisions are made on the fly, and we do the very best we can to communicate that out to the public,” Stormer said.
Stormer said, to her knowledge, Friday’s change was the first time something like that had happened.
With files from David Ewasuk