Organizers of Red Deer’s river-themed centennial festival have their fingers crossed it can still go ahead as planned next week.
Sheila Bannerman, chair of the centennial committee, believes the high river levels should be back within normal ranges within a few days.
“We’re working on a contingency plan, just in case, for River of Light,” she emailed on Friday. “But at this point, according to the experts, the worst will be over today.”
Much of the centennial festival revolves around the importance of the Red Deer River to the city’s history.
The festival is expected to culminate with more than 400 lit-up rain barrels floating down the river starting from 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 30. The barrels, with changeable coloured lights installed inside their tops, will be launched at Fort Normandeau and collected at Three Mile Bend.
They will later be available for sale for $70 to the public from the centennial committee (call 403-340-2013 for more information).
Some of the festival’s other special events are a rain barrel sculpture, with video and sound elements, installed at Bower Ponds from June 26 to 30, and projected lights on Red Deer’s onion-shaped water tower from June 27 to 30.
The effects are courtesy of Creatmosphere, a U.K.-based company of light artists.