Edmonton Heritage Festival, Big Valley Jamboree cancelled after thunderstorm

The third and final day of the Edmonton Heritage Festival is cancelled after heavy rain damaged some of the pavilion tents in Borden Park overnight.

The festival announced the closure Monday morning, saying damage to electrical, propane and water infrastructure means it isn't safe for attendees.

A thunderstorm dumped rain across Edmonton for about six hours late Sunday and early Monday, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. In total, up to 28 millimetres of rain fell — and after a hot, dry July, that much rain can potentially cause localized flooding.

Robert Rohatyn, executive director of the Edmonton Heritage Festival Association, told CBC News that it's a difficult situation for the groups that participate in the event.

"They work really hard through the year to put this festival on ... and being local, not-for-profit groups themselves, it's an important fundraiser for those groups and to help them gather funds to to put on events within their community," he said.

"It's a drastic impact on them and, and it's very devastating. My heart certainly goes out to them."

Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alta., was also called off on Sunday night as a thunderstorm approached the country music festival grounds. Attendees had to leave before headliner Keith Urban took to the stage.

In a series of social media posts Sunday, festival organizers first said they were monitoring a severe thunderstorm watch, then announced that the event was postponed.

In a final notice Sunday night, the rest of the event was cancelled "due to severe weather conditions," with attendees instructed to go back to their campsites or vehicles and leave.

Urban also took to social media, posting a video of him and his band members playing music on a bus backstage after their set was cancelled.

One night of Big Valley Jamboree was also cancelled early due to severe weather in 2022.

And in 2009, the festival stage collapsed during a severe wind storm, killing a 35-year-old woman and injuring several other people.

Long weekend storms

Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Eric Van Lochem said thunderstorms started developing over the foothills in southwest Alberta, as well as around Hinton, Alta., on Sunday afternoon.

As the systems moved east, they generated severe weather in some areas, with toonie-sized hail reported near Banff National Park. In Edson, Alta., 40 millimetres of rain fell in just one hour, with wind gusting to more than 100 kilometres per hour.

"There was more of that kind of localized flooding. There were trees coming down on vehicles and reports of downed power lines, things like that," Van Lochem said.

By the time the thunderstorm arrived in Edmonton late Sunday, Van Lochem said it was losing steam.

"As the sun set, this kind of area of thunderstorms sort of started to weaken and it basically just filled into one big area of rain, which then tracked over the city of Edmonton overnight."

July 2024 was Edmonton's hottest on record, with only about 10 millimetres of rain for the whole month.

"Certainly when it's been dry like this, then you get a lot of rain in a relatively short period, the ground has a limited capacity to absorb all of that rain at once," Van Lochem said.

Hundreds of thousands of people attend the Edmonton Heritage Festival each year over the August long weekend.

It typically runs in the city's Hawrelak Park, but because of renovations closing the park until 2026, the festival has temporarily relocated to Borden Park.

Infrastructure crews will continue to assess the damage throughout the day, according to Rohatyn.