The Magnificent River Rats Festival is looking at contingency plans after an engineering company stated the Athabasca Riverfront Stage had structural problems and recommended it be taken out of service.
At the Town of Athabasca council’s May 7 meeting, Coun. John Traynor made the motion to accept the company’s recommendation to take the stage out of service. The motion passed unanimously.
In a letter dated April 17, Rocky Mountain Engineering Inc. recommended the 19-year-old stage be taken out of service due to the “seasonal movements in the foundation structural elements and added stresses in the floor system.”
“The settlement had resulted in an approximate differential of up to 248mm (10 inches) in elevation across the stage deck,” the letter states. There were no indications of stress in the roof structure from the foundation settlement. The floor structure appeared to have stress due to differential settlement.”
The letter states that Rocky Mountain Engineering reviewed the stage Jan. 24, taking photographs and measurements for the review. It also recommends re-surveying the deck elevations once the ground frost has melted, so the winter measurements can be compared to spring/summer measurements.
The lack of a stage could be a problem for the upcoming Magnificent River Rats Festival.
In an interview, society president and town Coun. Ida Edwards said nothing has been finalized with respect to the stage. She noted the engineering company would be doing the follow-up to check the ground now that it has thawed.
“We’re just making contingency plans,” Edwards said. “We’ll just deal with it as it comes ... You just roll with it.”
At the festival society meeting May 6, Edwards said the contingency plan consists of an outside stage structure, a quote for which is pending.
“(All-Star Productions out of Edmonton) do our lighting and sound systems for the festival,” she said. “I have also spoken with (chief administration officer Robert Jorgensen) about the Multiplex stage, but it does not have the pillars to put things on it. It’s not rated for weight, and we cannot put a roof on it.”
Edwards also said the production company has the experience and the equipment to give them a portable stage for the event.
“It would be located right in front of the stage,” she said. “I will be informing town council as soon as I have the quote.”
At the council meeting May 7, Edwards told the council that one concern about having a portable stage would be access to power.
“We do use the power hook-up on the stage,” she said. “We do require an electrician to do the hook-up, so I will need to know how that’s going to work.”
Edwards added the electrician is independent of All-Star Productions.
“They are the ones who do the proper hook-up around the cables,” she said. “We have two or three cables which run that are high-energy carriers. If the electrician is good to walk on the stage and make the connections, everything will be OK.”
Coun. Dave Pacholok also moved that council request a cost estimate proposal for an engineering solution to repair the stage, and the motion also passed unanimously.
