By Sheldon Spackman

Evaluating The Impact

Westerner Park working on plan for supporting staff affected by cancelled events

Mar 17, 2020 | 10:37 AM

Officials with Westerner Park say their are looking at their options when it comes to what to do with staff left without work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, has advised against all gatherings of 250 people or more to help stop the spread of coronavirus in the province– effectively cancelling all large events previously scheduled at Westerner Park, everything from Rebels games to trade shows.

Mike Oleson, CEO at Westerner Park, says the organization is evaluating the full impact of the lost revenue as fast as it can.

“We are certainly focused on retaining our staff and this will have to be balanced against all other financial requirements we have,” Oleson said. “As a nonprofit, Westerner park invests all its revenue back into its organization. Therefore paying staff relies on revenue earned. As this situation evolves we will have more information on how this impacts our staff and organization.”

“The City of Red Deer and Westerner Park are working together to reestablish viable and sustainable business practices that ensure continued operation of the venue,” continues Oleson. “As this is an evolving situation, we don’t have any more details at this time.”

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With the City of Red Deer assuming financial oversight of Westerner Park earlier this year, Mayor Tara Veer anticipates significant financial repercussions as a result of the current health pandemic.

“We have publicly identified before that there will be some support that will be needed for Westerner Park, but we do not know the magnitude or measure of that yet,” Veer said. “We will continue to be working with Westerner Park in terms of the external financial audit, as well as the operations audit. But obviously the financial situation at Westerner Park has significantly escalated because of the revenue that will not be coming into the facility.”

Westerner Park employs 56 full-time staff and 300 casual staff, and is also supported by 500 volunteers.

The facility typically hosts 1,500 events and welcomes 1.5 million visitors each year.