A weekend of unpredictable weather — from the scorching heat, to lightning, and a false-alarm-tornado-warning — didn’t phase the well-oiled crew running Sarnia’s Bluewater Borderfest, officials say.
“Everyone was calm, and rational,” event organizer Mark Perrin told The Journal, Monday. “Credit to the whole group that came together and made, what I think, ended up being the right decisions in keeping everyone safe.”
Those decisions included an emergency evacuation of Centennial Park, Friday evening, when lightning and a looming storm system threatened the crowd shortly after gates opened.
“We were tracking everything and watching closely,” Perrin explained. “Once we saw what was coming directly towards us, we made the decision to evacuation the park for everyone’s safety… we asked people to go in their cars, or go to an indoor facility nearby.
Once the gates re-opened shortly after, it took about 17 minutes to get everyone back into the park, he noted.
“We have a lot of people on our team with an emergency background, so that helps in these kinds of situations,” Perrin said of his core team of volunteers, many of whom have been with him since day one. “The big thing is, everyone was safe.”
On Saturday, the skies were clear but an unexpected tornado warning threw another wrench in things.
“Right away, we all had a quick meeting, looked at the radar forecast, and were trying to figure out… where is this coming from?” Perrin said of the alert issued just before 7 p.m., urging residents to seek shelter.
“We reached out to some emergency management teams… and ended up receiving an all-clear from the provincial weather agency letting us know where the tornado warnings actually were, and that Sarnia-Lambton was not actually in one.”
The show went on that night, capping off one of the most eventful concert series’ for Perrin and his team who have been staging Borderfest since 2017.
More than 10,000 made their way to the three-day event, selling out hotels and marina slips, and bringing in well over $2 million in economic impact, said Perrin, who also serves as Tourism Sarnia-Lambton’s executive director.
“The sole purpose of doing this event is really to support the community,” he said of more than $200,000 given back to local charities and non-profits over the years.
“It’s just terrific in supporting our businesses, communities, and that’s all job creation.
“And it’s really everything you want a festival to be. Can’t be happier about that.”