Edmonton festivals truck in sand, hire meteorologist to combat record summer rainfall

Edmonton's signature outdoor music festival is taking extraordinary measures, including trucking in tonnes of sand and pumping out water, to ensure the Folk Music Festival site is ready for its upcoming event. This comes as the city endures its wettest summer on record, posing significant challenges for organizers.

Terry Wickham, who has coordinated the Edmonton Folk Music Festival for nearly four decades, described this year as the most challenging due to the unprecedented rainfall. "The festival site has taken over two feet of rain since June, so it’s very damp there right now," Wickham stated. Environment Canada reported that Edmonton had received 580 millimeters of rain as of last week, breaking the previous record of 417 millimeters set in 1953 for the June-August period.

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The festival site has taken over two feet of rain since June, so it’s very damp there right now.

The persistent rainstorms have caused widespread flooding of streets and campsites, disrupting summer plans and leading to more tornadoes than usual across Alberta. The Edmonton Heritage Festival was forced to close early on Sunday due to high winds and wet weather, and other events like the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, K-Days midway, and concerts by Post Malone and Kesha were also canceled or delayed in July.

Despite concerns, Wickham expressed confidence that the nearly sold-out Folk Fest will proceed, noting that organizers have a "rainy day" fund. Meanwhile, Megan Dart, executive director of the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, revealed that her team has hired a meteorologist to closely track daily weather conditions and has enhanced emergency response planning for their upcoming event. "Edmontonians have experienced an extraordinary summer of severe weather," Dart commented.

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Edmontonians have experienced an extraordinary summer of severe weather.