THUNDER BAY - After an unprecedented number of people gathered at Fort William Historical Park to witness the largest fireworks display in Canada, much of the awe that began the night, was replaced with frustration at the end.
It is estimated that more than 15,000 people attended the fireworks display last Friday at the historical site on the Kaminisitquia River as part of the four-day Karnival on the Kam. When the fireworks were over, it took some people as long as three hours to get out of the park and back to Broadway Avenue.
“When you have an event at that size, you are going to have traffic congestion,” said Sergio Buonocore, general manager of Fort William Historical Park. “I’m sure we’ve all been to large football games or concerts in Canada and the U.S. and it’s no different.”
Buonocore added that for the remaining four days of the carnival, there were no issues with parking and Friday evening was unique because of the number of people it brought in and the timing.
“This all happened because within a two hour window over 90 per cent of the visitors to the fireworks came between 7 and 9 o’clock at night,” he said. “The infrastructure can only handle so much.”
Buonocore commended his staff who had already worked long hours on Friday for assisting people in getting off the site and there were no reports of any injuries or collisions.
And while it may have been a source of frustration for some, Buonocore said he only received a small number of complaints while the majority of people provided positive feedback about the weekend.
In order to alleviate this kind of traffic congestion for future events, a second access road to the historical site is still in the works and Buonocore expects construction to begin very soon.
“I would say I am hoping construction will start in late fall of this year and definitely by early spring,” he said. “That road will take away a lot of this traffic pressure on the single lane we have coming into the Fort right now.”
The need for a second access road into the park became apparent after the 2006 Rock the Fort festival when crowds of more than 10,000 encountered similar traffic congestion. In 2009, the Ontario government provided $8 million for infrastructure upgrades at the park, which included a new access road from Broadway Avenue.
Since that time, there have been extensive environmental assessments, consultation with neighbouring properties, and excavation of an archaeological site near the location of the new road.
“It’s not just a small gravel road,” Buonocore said. “There is a lot in that road, sewer systems, water systems, electrical. It’s a significant road coming into the Fort.”
Buonocore added there is no one who wants to see the second access road built more than him as he wants the park to continue to put on innovative projects and he recognizes that proper infrastructure is needed.
However, with it being Canada and Ontario’s 150 anniversary this year, he said the Fort wanted to move forward with the carnival and the fireworks, which he called a huge success and shows that Thunder Bay can host these kinds of world renowned events.
“I think Thunder Bay maybe needs to get used to the fact that we can do big stuff here as well and part of doing big stuff is that you make it a day, you make it an experience,” he said. “You just can’t just drive in and out in five minutes.”
