Victoria International Buskers Festival organizer John Vickers is scrambling to find outdoor seating after the City of Victoria sold a good portion of its stock of bleachers.
While the city still has hydraulic bleachers that will seat about 250 people, it sold two-thirds of its bleachers because they are old and considered unsafe.
The move left people like Vickers wondering how he’s going to seat thousands of people.
“My highest daytime demographic in the community are grandparents and grandkids, and I just feel sorry for all the seniors and all the people who come down and enjoy the festival over a period of days. Basically, the only place to sit, for the most part, will be the asphalt,” Vickers said.
Vickers said he might be able to provide chairs, but they won’t provide the same sightlines.
“I figure I’m about 750 seats short on an hourly basis, 10 hours a day for most of those 10 days.”
City spokesperson Katie Hamilton said that “unfortunately,” the city had to decommission about two-thirds of the bleachers it used to provide for festivals and events because they were considered unsafe.
Replacements would cost more than $200,000, she said.
Before making a major investment in new bleachers, staff plan to work with festival organizers in the city to identify what is most needed, she said in an email.
This year’s Victoria International Buskers Festival runs July 15 to July 24.
“I always say that although it’s only a 10-day event, the Buskers [Festival] delivers more theatre to more Victorians than all the indoor theatres combined [do] in a period of a couple of years,” Vickers said.
