Photo courtesy of Ross Lavigne

By Scott Roblin

Medalta & COVID-19

Medalta weathering empty halls & dried up revenue during COVID-19

Apr 28, 2020 | 5:32 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Strange times at some of Medicine Hat’s staple facilities during this pandemic, including the eerily quiet grounds of Medalta.

The usual hustle and bustle of school trips have been cancelled, their Artists in Residence program has shut down, and doors to the public have been closed for over a month.

“There’s a palpable air of quiet over everything,” said executive director Mike Onieu. “It’s unusual for Medalta because at this time of year we normally are buzzing with activity. It feels a bit strange, but we’re just trying to be ready to accept our community back at the earliest opportunity.”

Medalta was just about to enter its busiest period of the calendar year prior to the pandemic and have had to deal with a number of event cancellations and closures.

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According to Onieu, that has put financial strain on the facility that relies on tourist traffic every spring and summer.

“Right now, our ability to earn revenue is about zero,” said Onieu. “We are still getting the grants to a large extent, but in terms of ticket and event sales and rentals it’s zero.”

Staff had hoped to run at least four editions of the ‘Market at Medalta’ but that has since been put on the back burner while they await news from the provincial government regarding when they can open again.

As for staffing, Medalta had to lay off most of its employees when their doors closed to the public last month.

The federal government’s wage assistance program has helped the majority of those workers return to the job though, albeit with many working from home.

“We were able to recall a lot of them thanks to the Emergency Wage Subsidy,” said Onieu. “Right now, we’re just trying to get a lot of work done that we don’t normally ever have time to do.”

Some of those new projects include implementing new software and transitioning to an online model.

Planning for summer events have been put on hold for the most part, with the most challenging delays coming on their seasonal weddings that bring in a big chunk of yearly profit.

“Those are very important to people, they want to know when they’ll be able to re-schedule it and it’s very difficult to accept that we don’t know,” said Onieu. “However, we have a pretty good planning capacity, we’ve enacted our business continuity plan. So, we are planning but being a little bit flexible with the time line.”

Onieu has not yet received any indications from the province on when re-opening of Medalta could take place, however he did say that they’ll be following other local community facilities such as the Esplanade.