A familiar landmark will soon disappear from the landscape north of Okotoks.
Hebson Arena, which was constructed more than 50 years ago, is scheduled for demolition this spring after being deemed structurally unsafe. The rafters have given way in the roof of the building, making it susceptible to severe weather and too dangerous to use.
Okotoks Agricultural Society president Jackie Miller said it’s disappointing to lose an arena that has served the area for half a century, but the closure was necessary.
“It is closed off completely,” said Miller. “It’s probably okay as long as we don’t have a major weather event but it’s best to be safe so it’s locked up and closed off and there are signs up notifying people.”
The Hebson Arena is located adjacent to the southeast corner of the Agricultural society’s main building.
A request for proposal has gone out for the demolition and clean-up, which she said should take place sometime this spring. Tearing down the building is going to cost the Ag Society about $30,000 to 40,000 – a big blow for a not-for-profit society, she said.
The arena won’t be replaced for a number of years, she said. It will cost at least $500,000 to construct a new building of similar size and raising funds will take some time, she said.
“At this time we don’t have any money, so like most non-profit community organizations we’re kind of scraping along most of the time,” said Miller. “So, capital projects take years of planning and fundraising. It will take some time and planning and probably quite a few years to get that to fruition.”
In the meantime, user groups previously housed in the Hebson Arena have scrambled to find space for their scheduled programming, she said.
Prairie Sky Therapeutic Riding Association, a couple of dog-training outfits, the local 4-H club, and membership riders are all looking for time in the larger Agriplex arena now, she said, making scheduling tight.
“What happens is it reduces the time that’s available for our members to ride, and we are a membership-owned organization,” said Miller. “It’s not a great situation, but hopefully we can get our outdoor arena improved to help out.”
Hannah Friedenberg, executive director of Prairie Sky, said the change in venue happened very suddenly, and her organization is still reeling.
“We kind of saw it coming in a sense, because there were some pretty big repairs needed, but in terms of the actual closure of the building, that happened in a 24-hour period,” said Friedenberg.
After operating out of the Hebson Arena for three years, her therapeutic riding sessions have had to squeeze into a busy schedule and she ‘s not sure what the future holds.
She said the organization has managed to secure some dates in the next couple of months to continue its programming through May, but options are limited beyond that.
“They’ve worked with us to try to make sure we can still run the programming, but it’s up in the air moving forward,” said Friedenberg.
The association, which offers equine-assisted therapy mostly for autistic or disabled children in the area to help them gain motor, cognitive, and social and communications skills, has been forced to start looking elsewhere, she said.
“Right now we’re looking all over south and west of Calgary for a facility that would be willing to house us and work with us for our programming,” said Friedenberg. “We’re currently on the hunt pretty hard and we’ve got a couple of options, but no solid plans.”
