Quick-change artists
From WHL playoffs to concerts to convocation, Enmax Centre workers kept hopping
Deep underneath the concourse, staff members scurry around manoeuvring floor boards, glass, chairs and stage parts.
There could be a concert, a hockey game, or another type of occasion going on — it’s all in a day’s work at the Enmax Centre.
Except that the past few days — and by extension, weeks, thanks to the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ ongoing playoff run — haven’t been usual at the city’s biggest indoor events venue.
Eight days ago, country star Dierks Bentley brought his largescale setup to the Enmax. The Hurricanes then hosted Games 3 and 4 of the WHL Eastern Conference Final on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hours after that, Lethbridge College staff began setting up for Friday’s convocation, held at the arena. Oh, and Rick Mercer will bring his “Canada 150th Coast to Coast” tour to the Enmax tonight, before the Hurricanes host Game 6 on Sunday.
“We’re basically running 24 hours a day,” said Len Overbeeke, operations manager at the Enmax Centre. “When the team goes deep in the playoffs like that you just need to come up with all your scenarios and make your plans.”
Part of the current complication with the advance bookings is elements that haven’t been a factor in late April for many years: ice, boards, glass and the party deck bleachers.
“Now that we still have hockey, all of those things are still in play,” Overbeeke said. “So it does impact the events. We’re basically looking at the game on almost a period-by-period basis to determine our plans.”
The arena’s main tenant is also dealing with the constant hectic action as they try to advance to the WHL Final for the first time since 2008.
“The scheduling hasn’t worked to the best of our interests, but we are making do with what we have,” said Terry Huisman, general manager of business operations with the Hurricanes.
Wes Chapman, sales executive at the Enmax Centre, said they welcome it all and try to accommodate it all.
“This weekend is a perfect example of the diversity of events we bring to the community,” he said.
“We have an incredible team that have the capacity to execute these events within very tight timelines. Logistically it can be challenging to make all of these events run smoothly. Our entire team is highly engaged and work tirelessly to make sure that everything is flawless.”
For Lethbridge College, Friday’s convocation marked the third time the post-secondary institution has held its ceremony at the Enmax Centre.
Marko Hilgersom, registrar at LC, said there were a lot of moving pieces involved, but that their timelines were only impacted minimally.
“The Enmax has been fantastic to work with. It’s been great,” he said.
“Today (Friday) hasn’t been any different than past years. The stage is set. It looks like everything is on time.”
About 650 of the more than 1,530 grads of 2017 crossed the stage, with several thousand people in the stands, during LC’s 60th convocation. Enmax Centre and City of Lethbridge staff also treated Friday’s convocation similar to a Hurricanes game, with regards to parking lot access in and out.
“One of the biggest challenges from a building point of view, with all the changes around — our food and beverage people are all busy, our events people are all busy — is our staffing,” Overbeeke said.
“Our staff are all shared with the public operations in summer. In the last two weeks, we’ve lost almost 85 per cent of our staff over to the parks department and street and roads. We’re having to make plans to borrow staff back to make sure we have enough to get everything done. We’ve got great relationships with all the other departments in the City. We make that work,” he continued.
“The guys that are here all the time, year-round, the operators, they’re busy juggling a lot of balls at the same time making sure it all happens. The end result is: if people don’t see anything, then they’ve done a great job. Looking forward through this weekend into next week, we’re definitely still in that wait and see mode because we have five events. Not including hockey.”
The next one up is tonight’s show by Mercer, who is widely renowned as Canada’s top comedian. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.
His performance is also part of the Enmax Centre's Canada 150 Series.
“Our goal is to bring diverse entertainment to southern Alberta, and to engage as much of the community as possible,” Chapman said.
“Seeing the venue so busy over the past few weeks has been great. We truly appreciate the support of the community and will work hard to continue bringing world class entertainment to Lethbridge.”
Follow @NKuhlHerald on Twitter