Millarville riding arena roof collapses

The Millarville Racing and Agriculture Society is scrambling to meet the needs of its user groups and renters after the roof of it riding arena collapsed Monday.

No one was in the arena and no animals were injured when the arena roof at the Millarville Race Track northeast of Millarville collapsed the afternoon of March 19.

"Between 1 and 2 (p.m.) there was basically a crash and I would say about two-thirds of the roof collapsed in," said society president Brent Foster. "All four sides of the building are still up. It appears to me to be a snow-related event. When people come to the site with those expertise they will let us know."

The site around the arena has been secured and people are encouraged to avoid the area.

Foster said the riding arena was build in 1985 and, while there was a long-term plan to build a larger arena to allow space for show jumping, he believed the structure was in good shape.

Winter is the busiest time for the arena, with most use occurring in evenings. About 10 different groups use the facility annually and several more rent it for events.

"Luckily there was no one there yesterday afternoon," Foster said. "We are just thankful that no one was hurt."

The society is working with its user groups to look at alternate solutions, such as putting up a temporary structure until a permanent one is build, said Foster.

"We will do what we can for those groups to try to minimize the impact," he said. "I don't know if it's a repair or total build at this point. With events coming up in the summer we are going to need to look at putting something, at least in the interim, in place whether it's a steel Sprung structure or what have you. We first need to get the site cleared and see what our short-term and long-term plans are."

Foster said the society has to determine how it will pay for repairs or replacement of the riding arena.

During the past two years, the society spent $200,000-$300,000 on site improvements including mechanical upgrades on furnaces, hot water tanks and water treatment plant, and upgrading to energy-efficient lighting in its buildings. The society paid for half and the remaining was covered by provincial and federal grants, Foster said.

"The last number of years we've gone through the winter months without going into our line of credit," he said. "We've done all of these improvements, we brought the organization up a level with respect to operations and community support."

That support was evident just hours after the roof collapsed.

"We've already had a couple of people wanting to volunteer some heavy-duty equipment," Foster said. "We are thankful for people already reaching out."

Executive director Lisa Lloyd said the society counts on community support.

"We have a huge sponsorship campaign right now because of the challenges of our agriculture grants being cut, which had a huge impact on our society," she said. "This is one more thing where we will reach out to get support to help get this in place. Insurance will take care of most of it, but often they don't take care of all of it."

Getting a functional arena is the society's top priority right now, said Lloyd.

"We do have some bookings that will be affected by this," she said. "It's really about how long it will take to rebuild. Our fair in August really relies on it and that will be a big challenge, but nothing we won't be able to deal with."