By Liam Verster

Hall Upgrades

Bezanson Memorial Hall has alarm system upgraded, doubling allowed capacity

Aug 10, 2020 | 4:30 AM

The Bezanson Agricultural Centre is doubling it’s allowed capacity from 150 to 300 patrons, as it upgrades the alarm system.

The rest of the facility had the updated alarms installed at an earlier date, but due to financial restrictions, the alarm in the hall was not be upgraded.

However, the Bezanson Ag Society has received a provincial grant of $9,937 through the Community Facility Enhancement Program, as well as a matching grant through the County of Grande Prairie’s Capital Assistance Grant, which is being used to have the alarm upgraded. The total amount of money collected through the grants covers the cost of the installation.

Audrey Hewings, the Executive Director of the Bezanson Ag Society, says increasing the capacity of the hall will be very useful for holding events.

“One of the challenges that we were finding was that our Community Centre, the gymnasium, allows for up to 600 people that can use it, comfortably at 400. But that’s just too large for many of our rental parties that want to book for the 200, 250 [patrons]. So this whole increased capacity will just allow us to be able to service the users who want to book the hall, and we’re pretty thrilled to be able to do the accommodations for them.”

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The Memorial Hall has been used in the past for events like weddings, family reunions, funerals, and fundraisers. Hewings says she hopes this upgrade and increased capacity will bring in more users and groups in the future.

Hewings adds because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current restrictions, they haven’t had many groups renting out the space, but she hopes that changes fairly soon.

“We’re just waiting for once Phase 3 hits with the reopening of the province, then we can go ahead and allow more patrons in to using the facilities, we’re already accommodating those up to 50 indoors. But the bookings have started for next year and we’re all just praying and hoping that our economy is back open and that we can just get back to a semi-normal.”

The new alarm system is being installed and the hall should be fully updated within the week.