Stony Plain's water apocalypse
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Despite losing water twice on the same weekend, organizers at this year’s Cowboy Music and Poetry Festival and Open Farm Days were able to pull together and have the show go on.
On Friday, Aug. 19, a watermain break occurred at the construction site on 44 Avenue, resulting in the Town shutting down the main municipal water supply.
“When it happened, we were mid-stream,” said Ray Anderson, president of the Cowboy Music and Poetry Festival.
“I kept reminding our management team that’s what we’re there for, to deal with the unknown when there are mishaps.”
Anderson and his team were able to network with their partners in the community, and had port-a-potties delivered to the site shortly after the water main break.
“Our audience are predominantly rural people or ex-rural … they are accustomed to dealing with adversity,” said Anderson.
“When we gave them the facts, they all stayed.”
Water was restored to Stony Plain on Saturday morning, which was right in time for Corn Fest, the Multicultural Centre’s (MHC) Open Farm Days event.
“Having the 72- hour boil water advisory definitely added some challenges to the day,” said Erin Ferster, a spokesperson for the MHC. “We had to bring in water to the facility … we made last-minute trips and hoped we could grab some water.”
The MHC was able to gather what they needed fairly quickly, and Corn Fest occurred as planned.
“We have such an awesome team here that pulled together and we supported each other as much as we could,” Ferster explained.
The MHC staff ensured there was hand sanitizer available throughout the day, and was fortunate enough to have their washrooms operable for the public.
Ferster was happy with the attendance at the event, even though many residents were dealing with their own issues at home.
“We had more questions regarding whether we were able to run Corn Fest (because of the water outage),” explained Ferster.
“I am not sure if that did end up affecting numbers slightly because of assumptions. But for the most part we had a nice steady crowd throughout the day.”
When the second watermain break occurred Saturday evening, Corn Fest was wrapping-up, however the MHC’s Open Farm Days dinner was about to begin.
“It did affect the kitchen that evening and unfortunately we were unable to open the restaurant on Sunday,” Ferster explained.
“After a couple of days of dealing with these complications and not having the running water to sanitize and clean properly, the restaurant was closed.”
Water was fully restored to Stony Plain on Sunday morning, but there was variable pressure throughout the day as the Town worked to flush out the pipes.
On Monday, Aug. 22 the Town of Stony Plain lifted the 72-hour boil water advisory.
Background on 44 Avenue construction:
In June, town council approved $1,081,223.39 from the Capital Sewer Reserve for the replacement of the storm and sanitary sewer lateral on 44 Avenue, as well as surface improvement work.
Construction began on July 25, and is scheduled to take six to eight weeks to complete.
ymayne@postmedia.com
Twitter: @YasminMayne