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Festival cancelled after stage collapse

By | Published on Monday 3 August 2009

One person was killed and several others were injured when the main stage at the Big Valley Jamboree festival in Canada this weekend collapsed as high winds hit the site.

The festival’s producer, Larry Werner of Panhandle Productions, told reporters that a warning that a severe storm was heading towards Camrose near Edmonton, where the festival was being held, had been received at 5.55pm on Saturday. Two minutes later the show was stopped, just as country singer Billy Carrington was ending his set, but the storm hit seconds before an evacuation order could be announced. The winds brought down the stage, which crushed and killed punter Donna Moore and injured around 75 several others, including performers and crew.

A tearful Werner said: “We worked with what we had to work with. I wish nobody was hurt. I wish it never happened”.

Asked what this meant for the future of the festival, which has been running for the last 17 years, he said: “I’m more worried about the people who were hurt”.

One of the survivors of the stage collapse, Maris Orydzuk, told CTV: “[After the storm started the] next thing I know there is like concrete, and there’s something on my back. I can’t see a thing. It was awful. I thought my life was ending because it was completely dark and black. There was a tiny, tiny hole that I crawled through”.

The remainder of the festival was cancelled as crews moved in to clear the wreckage of the main stage, although campers were allowed to remain on site. Police are also investigating the scene.



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