'You just can't': Heritage Festival not happy with planned 3-year closure of Hawrelak
The leader of Edmonton's Heritage Festival is pushing back against a city plan to close Hawrelak Park for three years for a massive rebuild.
The $65 million project was initially pitched as a 10-year-rehabilitation project, but festival executive director Jim Gibbon said the new plan is a complete construction closure starting in 2023.
"There's a fair bit of work. But all of it could be done small and piecemeal without shutting down the park. It's the shutting down the park bit that I don't get," Gibbon said Wednesday.
The city's plans include dredging the lake to improve water quality, upgrading picnic sites to make them more accessible, replacing the playground and adding lighting for security.
Crews will also renovate the pavilion, boathouse, washrooms and service yard.
Paths will be added and roads will be rebuilt and repaved and bicycle parking will be added.
The Heritage Amphitheatre will also be updated including new washrooms, lighting and a reconfigured green room. Crews will inspect the seats to see if they need to be fixed or replaced.
About 47 per cent of the work will be on underground utilities, the city's project page said.
Coun. Andrew Knack sympathized with Gibbon and other festival operators and called the park a "critical space in the heart of our city."
He added that city staff plan to tour the site with event organizers to explain, but Knack worries a lengthy closure is unavoidable.
"I don't want to see the festivals and events shut down, I'm sure our city staff don't. So if there's ways to do it, then we would have done it, but it doesn't sound like there's a way to do it, which is really too bad," he said.
BORDEN PARK WILL NOT WORK: GIBBON
Gibbon said the city is recommending he move the festival to Borden Park.
But because it's smaller and full of trees, Gibbon said they'd have to slash the amount of pavilions and people who could attend by about half.
"You can't put Heritage Fest there. You just can't."
The festival has been in Hawrelak since 1976. Gibbon said not even the deadly 1987 Black Friday tornado stopped it.
"The tornado hit the Friday with all our tents set up, destroyed everything. Saturday the city, the province and Heritage Fest got together and rebuilt the entire event and we were up and running Sunday. We did it together," Gibbon said.
Gibbon agreed the park needs work, but he worries a closure will force the festival to move permanently.
"There's a history in this city of three-year plans becoming four-year plans," he said.
He's now appealing to city leaders to rethink the closure, and he said his organization will do whatever it can to help keep Hawrelak open.
"If we can just work together with the city, we can stay in our beloved park."
Heritage Festival 2022 is planned to run as normal from July 30 to Aug. 1. About 400,000 attend the festival each year.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.