Photo: Kim McInroy
A preparation area is seen for Polson Park’s drone show. Canada Day event organizer Mayla Janzen said people drove electric scooters into one area and damaged antennae, rendering the show inoperable at the last minute.
The organizer of Vernon’s Canada Day celebration says people drove electric scooters through a sectioned-off area and crashed into critical antennae, rendering the drone show inoperable last night.
Mayla Janzen is the president of the VOICE society, which put on yesterday’s Canada Day celebrations in Vernon. She tells Castanet that near 10 p.m., at the “last minute,” people drove motorized scooters into the drone show preparation area.
The scooters came through despite efforts from security staff and tape at the perimeter to keep them out, Janzen said. The show was scheduled to begin at 10 p.m.
Following the crash, the team opted to postpone the show to give the mechanics time to troubleshoot the issue. The drone technicians eventually found the problem could not be fixed, and Janzen went on stage to announce that there would be no show.
Then, attention turned to getting people out of the park safely. “I am very sorry that this didn’t get to happen,” she said the next morning.
The Vernon Okanagan Inspired Community Events society had 13 staff protecting several preparation areas.
Janzen will have meetings soon about what happens next, however she hopes the VOICE team can negotiate a make up show for Vernon. Worse case scenario, the drone show would wait until next year for its debut.
Electric scooters weren’t the only challenge organizers faced on July 1.
Resident Kim McInroy, who took photos of the preparation areas, said she saw clear bins placed over drones throughout the day, protecting the drones from rain. Heavy, spurting showers came and went throughout the afternoon following a severe thunderstorm watch issued by Environment Canada around 1 p.m.
Despite the turn of events that left the team a bit “disappointed,” Janzen is grateful for the amazing audience turnout. She said she was thrilled to see a turnout of about 5,000 people for the show, after she only announced it two weeks ago and never knew how it would play.
She was in the park until after 2 a.m. afterwards for the cleanup phase.
 "BCCI want Test specialists to play domestic cricket; Rohit, Virat, Bumrah to be exceptions")
