June 12, 1986: Kids inadvertently catch strip show at Fort Edmonton Park

A group of men whooped it up in Kelly’s Saloon, watching a stripper perform a risque routine with whipping cream at Fort Edmonton Park.

Parents of children who watched the show through the saloon’s open doors were not amused.

Fort Edmonton Park authorities and two city aldermen were not pleased.

The bare-breasted stripper sprayed cream on herself and her audience, which was a group from Sherwood Park.

The saloon’s doors were open, and youngsters attending a family barbecue in Fort Edmonton also saw the show.

“This is a historical park, not Chez Pierre’s,” Gerry Schofield, park supervisor, said of the downtown strip club. “If we know people are going to use strippers, then we won’t let them in. We don’t tolerate those sort of things here.”

Schofield said the Sherwood Park group that booked the saloon “didn’t say anything about a stripper.”

Fred Griffis, a public relations co-ordinator for a charitable society, was attending a family barbecue for Northern Light Theatre near Kelly’s Saloon. About 90 people, including 30 children, attended the barbecue.

After a 14-year-old boy told him about the stripper, Griffis went to the saloon at about 10 p.m. and saw the stripper dancing.

Ald. Lance White said it was unfortunate some people thought they had a right “to express all and sun dry to their form of entertainment.”

Ald. Lillian Staroszik said park staff should make people aware of the policy against strippers.

Schofield said in future the park’s rental literature would specify no strippers.