Winter festival organizer concerned about snow clearing

The organizer of the Deep Freeze Festival is concerned snow clearing issues will hamper visitor experiences at the event next weekend.

The organizer of a yearly winter festival in central Edmonton is hoping residential snow clearing, set to begin Monday, will hit her part of town first.

The Deep Freeze Festival on 118 Avenue between 90 and 95 Street is only a week away. On Monday, city crews will begin the two-week-long task of clearing snow from residential areas, including vital festival side streets.

Christy Morin, who runs Deep Freeze, says the state of the road as it is right now is not ideal. Currently, additional plows are clearing a route down 117 Avenue for the event’s horse and carriage route – but she worries about the surrounding roads.

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“We’re really pleading and hoping that we’ll get bumped up to the top of that residential clearing list,” she said in an interview Friday. “We want to make (the festival) enjoyable and safe for everyone.”

She says she’s already been getting calls from prospective attendees, wondering how to navigate deeply rutted, snowy and now, slushy roads. Morin had already flagged snow clearing as a potential issue with the city in December, after major snowfalls that month.

The city says it may not be as simple, however, as sending more plows to the residential areas of 118 Avenue.

“The weather, temperatures, current rutting, road width and impact of windrows in the surrounding neighbourhoods are all significant factors in how we plan the snow clearing operations that will most effectively support this festival,” read a statement from the city on Friday.

That statement also noted a Winter City grant the festival received from the city, provided because “operating outdoor festivals and events in winter has unique challenges.”

“Event organizers are responsible for the operations and safety of their festival site,” it continued.

“We’re not really asking the city to do anything unusual, other than just to, maybe, change us from a number seven on the list to a number one,” Morin said.

“We know the equity lens is that everybody needs snow clearing in their residential area … for us, it’s about community, knowing that we are doing our utmost as a festival to work with the city in that snow clearing area.”

Ashley Salvador, the city councillor for the area, said despite the city grant, Morin’s request was “reasonable.”

“I know city staff are working to do some proactive work on the avenue itself. They were in the community this morning, blading up and down, windrow removal … this is just sort of the additional ask beyond those areas,” she added. “Festival organizers want to know if the surrounding community can also be taken care of.”

Morin expects between 40,000 and 50,000 people coming to Deep Freeze next weekend.

The city said its clearing schedule was not yet finalized, meaning there is no commitment yet to clear those neighbourhood streets early.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson