UPDATED Aug. 4, 2009:
CAMROSE, AB, Canada — A woman attending the Big Valley Jamboree country music festival was killed when a storm caused the main stage to collapse just before 6 p.m. on Aug. 1. An estimated 75 were injured.
Most of the injured were treated on site, but 21 were taken to hospitals, and two were reportedly in critical condition. Festival organizers cancelled all events that had been set for the closing day of the festival, Aug. 2.
Family members identified the victim as Donna Moore, a marketing assistant and photographer for the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce, a town on the Albert-Saskatchewan border. She was killed when stage speakers fell as the structure was collapsing.
Among the injured was a player in Billy Currington’s band, who was performing onstage, and two members of Kevin Costner’s band, Modern West, which was preparing to play. Both Currington and Costner escaped serious injury.
Premier Global Production was the lighting and staging supplier, Panhandle Productions Ltd. produced the event and the audio supplier was Clair Brothers. Premier Global Production issued the following press release, which was posted on the home page of their Web site at www.premierglobalproduction.com:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured and our most heartfelt condolences go out to the family of the woman who lost her life at the event. Four of our own workers were hospitalized for injuries sustained while trying to keep the stage as secure as possible during the unforeseeable weather we experienced. We have done professional staging on this show since 1993, and have experienced many weather conditions at this festival site and others we've worked worldwide."
During a news conference the next morning, Larry Werner, with Panhandle Productions, said he and others had been in the process of clearing the stage when the winds topped the stage, between 5:57 and 6 p.m., but there was not enough time to get the 100 or so people on or near the stage to safety before it collapsed.
Although Werner said crew members were responding to a warning by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alert issued at 5:50 of unconfirmed reports of a tornado touching down near Nisku, a severe weather warning was not issued for the area until 6:04 p.m. according to the Edmonton Journal, which also published the following excerpt:
“At the end of the day, it comes down to the fact that I think everybody did as much as they possibly could have done,” said Dan Kulak, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada. The wind was well ahead of the storm as it showed up on the radar, which gave Environment Canada the false impression that the system was still a good distance from Camrose, as much as 20 minutes away.
Even so, police and Alberta Workplace Health and Safety are investigating to see if there were anything beside the wind that might have contributed to the collapse.
About 21,000 attended this year’s Big Valley Jamboree, according to organizers. Close to 15,000 had been camping nearby for the event, which takes place 60 miles southeast of Edmonton.
A video of the storm and collapse has been posted on Youtube at:
