Edmonton’s Heritage Festival has come to an agreement with the city less than a week after being told it was being evicted from its storage facility at Hawrelak Park.
“We’re keeping the barn!” the festival tweeted on Monday morning.
Festival organizers said they met with city officials on Friday afternoon, which resulted in the removal of the eviction notice. An agreement was also made to explore long-term options for storage, including the possibility for a new off-site facility.
Last week — just days after wrapping up the 2018 event — Heritage Festival was told by the city it had less than two weeks to vacate the barn in Hawrelak Park, a storage facility it had been using for years.
The festival used the old barn to store everything from tents and chairs, to ticket booths and picnic tables.
Word of the decision by the city administration caused a strong reaction from Mayor Don Iveson, who didn’t hold back in his opinion of the move.
“I’m not getting the sense that the City of Edmonton is being all that helpful, and that pisses me off,” Iveson said last week.
“For a partner we’ve worked with for more than 30 years to put on one of the neatest festivals on planet … from what I’ve seen reported I’m frustrated with the way Heritage Days feels it’s been treated by the city.”
Iveson said Monday he was not part of the discussion with Heritage Festival on Sunday. He did, however, speculate that Northlands could be one potential site for a longer-term storage solution for the festival.
The festival built the barn at Hawrelak Park in the 1980s and has used it ever since.
Heritage Festival is an annual three-day event that celebrates Canada’s multiculturalism. This year, the festival drew in more than 345,000 people.
Watch below: Edmonton’s Heritage Festival is looking for a new home – not for the actual event – but for all the storage and space needed to stage the annual event. Festival organizers have been using a barn they built in Hawrelak Park but the city says they can’t use it anymore. Vinesh Pratap has more. (Filed Friday, Aug. 9)
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