Break-in at Calgary festival venue shines light on community support

The main venue for the Big Winter Classic music festival was broken into on Tuesday night and over $15,000-worth of equipment was taken one week before the first band was scheduled to take the stage.

Venue manager Kerry Rasmussen said she discovered the break-in when she arrived at the venue Wednesday morning.

“When I came in through the backdoor, I could tell something was up,” Rasmussen said. “There were some clothes on the floor, some hot dog buns, a thing of orange juice… there was just sort of a trail.”

Rasmussen also found a suitcase and bag of prescription pill bottles in the space.

Festival organizers are turning a vacant office unit into a pop-up music venue.

Rasmussen said all the volunteer contractors’ tools were stolen, along with donated alcohol, festival merchandise and professional stage lights.

“As the day went on it was just like ‘Oh, this is gone too.’ So, a lot of personal things for people that are working in this space,” said Rasmussen.

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The BIG Winter Classic started in 2014 to create economic value for local businesses during the season that doesn’t typically see many events. Those local businesses are now showing their support for the festival following the break-in.

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A crowdfunding page has been set up for the festival, local bands have offered to play for free, and companies and sponsors have made huge donations to offset some of the event costs in a show of support that is not lost on festival organizers.

Urlacher said the support from the community has exceeded expectations and shows him how important the festival is to the local music scene.

“If we don’t have that support, we don’t have that community, so the word ‘community’ absolutely makes sense here,” Urlacher said.

Urlacher said the show will go on as scheduled, adding the break-in only makes Big Winter Classic more resilient.

He said there are still plenty of opportunities for people to show their support over the coming weeks.

“We could use some more volunteers. It’s a great way to come out and support the community, it’s also a great way to take in the festival,” said Urlacher.

“There’s probably a lot of bands that people have not heard of, but come give them a shot.”

Big Winter Classic runs Jan. 25 to Jan. 29 at venues throughout Calgary’s Beltline neighbourhood.