Rainy weather making life difficult for seasonal Calgary businesses

Global News

2 days ago

It's known as the Blue Sky City, so it would make sense there's no shortage of businesses in Calgary that make their hay when the sun shines.
But in July, that's been tough to come by for many seasonal business owners.
'I don't think anyone wants to be out there… I don't want to be out there,' Arlin Friesen laughed.
The owner of Lazy Day Raft Rentals commented on Monday's wet weather as he gave a tour of his storage space, filled with nearly 300 inflatables, trailers full of life-jackets and more gear than you could shake a paddle at.
Friesen estimated a typical Monday could see up to 150 different vessels of his on the Bow River. With a chance of lightning in the forecast on this day, they remained parked.
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'In May and June we were actually ahead of the curve for our best year ever, but July has really kicked us,' Friesen said.
'We're down over 40 per cent over last July.'
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According to Environment Canada, Calgary has seen 139.6 mm of rain since Canada Day, with a handful of days still left this month.
The average rainfall in July for the city is 65 mm, making this month the fifth-wettest on record as of July 27, and the second-wettest in the past 50 years.
'We've been the number one outdoor activity on TripAdvisor for years, so we have quite a good following,' Friesen said.
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'People come a long way just to do our activity. A lot of times we have to re-book them two or three times during the week when it rains like this… some days they just can't go.'
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It was also a quiet morning at The Winston Golf Club, just 10 minutes up the road.
The course opened at noon for the day after an early deluge — general manager Wade Hudyma hoping for 75 golfers to come through, much lower than the usual 250 the course sees on a daily basis.
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'The members have paid for the full year, so typically they'll come out, play a few holes or go practice,' Hudyma said.
'But as a public player, you're paying for the full experience out there… you'd probably rather a real nice day than a day that's going to bring rain and hail.'
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While you'd be hard-pressed to find a patch of brown grass on the 165-acre property, Hudyma says the grounds crew is facing challenges.
'Our property now is so saturated there's nowhere for the water to go, so it causes a few problems — mostly with carts. You can't have carts travelling everywhere, so you try to keep them on the path.'
Anyone golfing at The Winston on Monday was required to walk.
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Hudyma says that's part of life in the golf business.
'It's been fairly isolated. You'll find courses in the south that haven't got any rain and in the central part of Calgary like we are, a lot more. It goes back and forth, everyone's taking their turn at being closed.'
'I just got off the phone with a colleague in Toronto and they've had the opposite (weather) — 32 to 40-degree heat. They're struggling in other ways.'
Both Huydma and Friesen say one aspect of the business is the most challenging.
'It's hard on staff,' Hudyma said.
'We have about 50 students we hire every summer,' Friesen said. 'They want to work. And it's hard to get them work when it's rainy.'
One of Calgary's largest co-ed sports leagues, the Calgary Sport & Social Club, is working overtime to reschedule games for their outdoor sports.
'(Rescheduling) creates both logistical challenges and financial losses,' explained director of operations, Jon Diment. 'Typically we see worse weather in May and June but this year those months were surprisingly kind to us.
'One of the bigger differences this year is how saturated the fields have been. Normally after a rainstorm, we're back on the fields within 24 hours.
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'But the sheer volume of rain this month has caused flooding in some areas, which can take days to recover.'
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No matter the business model, Friesen said what everyone is hoping for, moving forward.
'Please, Mother Nature… work with me.'