Fort Macleod RCMP are investigating mischief to the Empress Theatre this weekend.
On Saturday, August 26, around 8:30 p.m., officers were patrolling the area around the Empress Theatre where a Pride event was taking place.
The officers were alerted to a disturbance inside the building where it was alleged someone had discharged a smoke bomb. After an investigation, it was determined it was fisher and marten lure oil.
Two suspects were arrested fleeing the scene, however, as they were youth, police say no further information will be released.
The investigation is ongoing.
The Empress Theatre made a Facebook post stating the theatre would be closed temporarily and apologized for any inconvenience. Â
Denise Joel, chair of the board of the Empress Theatre, says the event was a private rental from the Pride group and the individuals that were involved had purchased tickets, didn’t show any indication that they were there to cause any trouble and sat at the back of the theatre.
“About 15 minutes into the show, [they] started to leak some kind of noxious substance unto the floor and then got up and continued to leak the substance unto the carpet in the back of the theatre, the curtains that separate the foyer from the theatre,” says Joel who mentions the individuals also smashed a glass with a black liquid and smelled in the foyer and left.
Joel says that other then the people who were located near the individuals and the smell, no one else in the theatre was really aware of any disturbance and the show continued and everyone had a good time.
As for when the theatre will reopen, Joel says that they’re currently waiting for an assessment on the damage, the theatre’s floors are 112-year-old fir hardwood and the substance leaked into the floors themselves so their trying to figure out if its cleanable and if the smell can be neutralized in someway.
“It’s upsetting that it happened at all, but we’re hoping to move forward as quickly as possible.”
