Works Art & Design Festival powers through the rain

The Works Art & Design Festival has turned Churchill Square and surrounding downtown venues into an outdoor gallery and marketplace running through Canada Day, but this year's celebration is fighting through one of the wettest Junes on record.

In its 41st year, the festival typically draws between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors over its 12 to 13 days. The relentless rain during the first six days has driven attendance lower, affecting fundraising and donations. "If we close this festival and get a total rainout, then we may be looking for some additional support from the community in order to meet our goals for the end of the year," said Amber Rooke, the festival's executive director. "But as I said, it doesn't affect us being here."

The wet weather hasn't dampened all spirits. Blacklight painting vendor Lucy Cook is experiencing her first time at the festival and finds an unexpected silver lining. "Even though it's raining out, I'm actually quite excited about the rain too because there's a lot of overcast and it's slightly a bit darker. And for me, what that means is my paintings glow even brighter," she said.

But the rain has upended other plans. Josh Nowochin, project lead of the Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance, says the four weeks of steady precipitation has made trail work impossible. "Can't really do any dirt work. The site's a bit of a disaster," he said. The group had to allocate volunteers to fix existing trails rather than focus on construction, pushing the grand opening to July 25. "Because it's been raining for about 4 weeks, we haven't been able to do any work on site. We're looking to reschedule tentatively to September," Nowochin added.

Environment Canada is forecasting a total of 40 to 70 millimetres of heavy rain through the weekend. Despite the periods of rain, Cook remains optimistic about the festival's prospects. "I'll take the sun wherever I can get it, but for the time being, I'll be the sun," she said.