Wednesday was an historic day at Spruce Meadows. Over 25 cm of snow has fallen on the grounds, and a resulting eight-hour power outage, combined with the devastating impact of the snow on the Spruce Meadows trees and grounds made for a tremendously difficult day.
The snow forced all competitions originally scheduled for Wednesday, September 10th to be postponed as well as the closure of the Exhibit space and Plaza. The decision to reschedule the day’s events was driven primarily by lack of available essential services including power, water (reverting to the standby water source for the horses), telephone service and other essentials. This lead to the Spruce Meadows Organizing Committee decision, and its genuine concern for the overall safety of the public and all involved with the operations and participation at the ‘Masters’ Tournament.
Throughout the day, the Spruce Meadows Team worked diligently to clean the grounds, and to prepare the rings for competition. Members of the MD of Foothills Fire Service, the Lord Strathcona’s Horse Royal Canadians, ACE and CANA Construction, as well as riders, grooms and international visitors also arrived onsite and put forth an incredibly committed, unparalleled effort to clean the damage incurred as a result of the snow.
Spruce Meadows is thankful for the spirit, assistance and truly heroic effort from everyone who came out to help with the massive clean-up and greatly appreciate the many volunteers who assisted throughout the day.
The power has now been restored, and the cleanup efforts continue. Spruce Meadows has drafted a revised schedule for competitions for Thursday, September 11th.
The Exhibits & Plaza will open Thursday at 11:00 am, and will run until 6:00 pm. The schedule for the rest of the week will remain as originally planned, and can be found by clicking here.
The Team at Spruce Meadows would like to thank all of the amazing supporters who have helped with the clean up to ensure that the grounds are cleaned as quickly and thoroughly as possible. They encourage our fellow Calgarians to show their true Canadian spirit and come to cheer on the international riders who have travelled so far to be a part of the ‘Masters’ Tournament.
Please stay tuned to their website, Facebook, and Twitter feeds for updates. For a complete tournament schedule, visit the Spruce Meadows website at www.sprucemeadows.com.
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