Blowing snow caused the cancellation of the Harrison Festival Society family ‘barn dance,’ which was scheduled to take place Sunday (Jan. 12) at Harrison Memorial Hall.
According to a Facebook post published by society marketing manager Bryan Cutler on Sunday morning, the dance was cancelled due to the poor weather and road conditions.
RELATED: Up to 20 centimetres of snow expected in parts of Lower Mainland
“With sadness, the Harrison Festival Society has decided to cancel today’s Family Barn Dance,” Cutler wrote.
“Due to the bad weather conditions that are expected to get worse, we feel it would not be a good idea to ask the performers (who live in Vancouver) to travel and put themselves in a potentially dangerous situation on the road (coming and then returning). Not to mention the safety of patrons, volunteers and staff.”
According to Environment Canada, Harrison Hot Springs received a local snowfall of 2 to 4 centimetres on Sunday, with wind gusting up to 80 kilometres per hour in the afternoon. Blowing snow wasn’t forecasted to end until near midnight.
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The family ‘barn dance’ was supposed to feature a live band, consisting of The Paperboys fiddler Kalissa Landa and local musicians, as well as dance caller Bob Rentz, who was to teach square, round and contra dancing, which is a type of folk dancing.
Cutler had previsouly said in a press release that they had not produced such a dance for many years.
Lucky for would-be attendees, the society seems eager to reschedule.
“We were very excited for this event, and hopefully, we will be able to reschedule some time in the future,” he wrote in the Facebook post on Sunday. “For now, be safe, enjoy the snow and have a hot chocolate!”
RELATED: Harrison Festival presents its first family ‘barn dance’
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