New home for Coaldale ‘derby’

The eighth annual “Carnage in Coaldale” demolition derby and mud bog is getting some new digs.

Last week, Coaldale council approved a request from the Kinsmen Club of Coaldale to move the popular event to an empty space north of 12th Avenue in the town’s industrial park.

The event also requires the use of parking barriers, bleachers, transportation of the bleachers to and from the event, fire pits, snow fencing, garbage and recycling containers, in-kind donation of Coaldale fire department services, and permit costs waived for multiple magnate signs posted on Town property.

This year’s event is planned for the weekend of June 3-4.

Club president Adam Parker spoke on behalf of the Kinsmen Club of Coaldale. He told council the derby has raised more than $175,000 to date, which has been used in a number of Coaldale projects.

Town CAO Kalen Hastings said one caveat with allowing the derby to be held in the requested area year over year could be a loss of available land for sale — particularly since the town is growing in that area specifically. He said if council wanted to approve the request, they might consider adding a mention of the deal being subject to land availability.

However, Coun. Jack Van Rijn noted the only permanent alteration to the property would be a large ditch. The mud bog pits would be present from year-toyear, but aren’t considered a permanent structure. “Everything else could be carried off-site,” he said. Last year’s event took about 7,000 volunteer hours to pull off, according to Parker. This year is expected to be about 8,000 volunteer hours as the event continues to grow. He said there were no major changes planned for this year.

“Every year, we’ve been growing exponentially for this event,” he said.

Parker said the property would be useful for at least the next four-five years.

He added there is a lot of support from the Town the weekend of the event, and local residents take advantage of the increased traffic by holding garage sales.

Following discussion, council approved the request to use the land for the next four years, subject to availability.

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