The Ontario government says the stage company is to blame for 2011’s Ottawa Bluesfest collapse, not the festival itself.
The report, released to the Ottawa Citizen through a freedom of information request, says the Groupe Berger-owned stage was poorly built and broke several regulations when it went down on July 17, 2011.
The stage was designed to sustain winds of 120 kilometres an hour, but the report said it collapsed when winds reached 117 kilometres an hour during Cheap Trick’s set.
The report said side and rear “wind walls” weren’t removed when the storm started to approach.
Groupe Berger also failed to properly protect the safety of its stage workers, according to the report’s summary in the Citizen.
Three people were hospitalized in the collapse, which happened during Cheap Trick’s set on the final day of that year’s festival.
