Ottawa working with Slide the City to find site for waterslide operation
If you see a confused-looking person wandering around Carling Avenue in their swimming trunks next weekend, tell them the party ’s off.
Slide the City will have to find another Ottawa street to lay down its 300-metre slip ’n’ slide.
The Utah-based company had proposed to bring its wet and wacky brand of summer fun to the capital Aug. 1-2, but the city’s event planning department said they’ll have to find a different location.
While Carling’s central location and modest slope initially made it an attractive site for the waterslide attraction, the city said it would block the emergency route to The Ottawa Hospital’s nearby Civic campus.
The city instead suggested St. Joseph Boulevard, the site of the annual Orléans Soap Box Derby, but it didn’t meet organizers’ needs, said Delores MacAdam, manager of the city’s event central department.
Slide the City does not list an Ottawa event on its website, but MacAdam said they’re still in talks. “We want to work with them,” she said. “I think it would be a great event.”
MacAdam said Palladium Drive was also mentioned in internal conversations, though she was unsure whether the company would be interested in the site. “We find with special events, especially new events, they want to be in the core,” she said. “People can name a lot of places, but it has to meet certain criteria.”
The city has to consider a number of factors, including traffic patterns, trucking routes, emergency routes and transit, she said.
It’s not the first time Slide the City has run into trouble on the city streets. This week, the company postponed its event in Halifax that was scheduled for Saturday due to nearby construction. A similar event planned for Hamilton in late August had also been called off, according to Hamilton’s CBC News website.
In Kamloops, B.C., the slide went ahead only after provincial safety regulations caused delays and shortened the slide’s total length.
Other Canadian regions that have been selected to host events include Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver Island, Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg and Saskatoon.
The City of Ottawa’s events department plans to meet with Slide the City organizers again next week.