There will be pile-drivers aplenty in Morinville this summer now that town council has decided to allow pro wrestling into the new Community Cultural Centre.
Town council voted 6-1 in favour of allowing Force Pro Wrestling to hold a family wrestling event at the centre on Saturday, Aug. 20.
The event was proposed by Stephen Dafoe of the Art of Conversation — a local company that runs MorinvilleNews.com. The centre is ideal for opera, ballet and piano, Dafoe said in an interview, but his group wanted to expand its focus to less traditional activities.
The show itself will involve 14 wrestlers, said Force Pro co-owner Jay Bardyla, including former Morinville resident Don "Sgt. Hazard" Ferguson. It'll be an all-ages affair, he added, so there will be no swearing, chair-shots, tacks, alcohol or bloodshed.
"The point is to put on a good-old fashioned Stampede Wrestling show," Bardyla said.
Morinville has hosted wrestling events before, Dafoe said, but this will be the first one at the cultural centre.
"The slogan for the cultural centre since day one has been, 'It's ours,'" he said. "I think if you start having it stick to oboes, cellos and ballet, it isn't 'ours.'"
But the centre was designed as a culture and conference centre, community services director Susan MacDonald told council, not a sports facility, and it might be more appropriate to host the event at the town's sports centre or in a school gymnasium instead. She asked council to decide whether or not the event should go ahead.
Wrestling: is it cultural?
The question prompted much debate amongst councillors.
Coun. Ben Van De Walle made a motion to have administration draw up a policy on what events would be hosted at the centre, but the other councillors voted it down.
It's not council's place to determine what's cultural, said Coun. Lisa Holmes.
"I consider this event to be less of a sporting event than I do [dance or ballet]," she said.
Blocking one event could create a slippery slope, she added, where council would start blocking groups simply because they didn't like them.
"There are a lot of fans of different kinds of activities that would be considered more risqué. Are we saying we're not going to have those events in our cultural centre?"
Coun. Nicole Boutestein agreed: "If they pay the same rate as anyone else, and they're willing to rent [the centre], it's theirs."
While the centre's focus is cultural, said Coun. Gordon Boddez, it's too soon to say what events the community should and shouldn't host in it.
"We want to be flexible first," he said, adding that the town should give this event a shot before trying to set any policy.
The centre has a lot of floor space, said Mayor Lloyd Bertschi, but that doesn't mean it should be used for floor hockey.
"Where do you draw the line?" he asked.
Bertschi also warned council that they ran the risk of having to authorize every event at the centre as long as there wasn't a policy in place.
Coun. David Pattison moved to green-light the event.
"I do not want to stop this event from going," he said, adding that he had not seen any evidence that it would run contrary to the centre's purpose.
Bertschi supported bringing "wrasslin'" to the centre, but had concerns about the food and drink it would involve.
"We need this place lit," he said, but they don't want gum on the seats.
When Van De Walle cast the lone vote against this motion, Dafoe quipped, "He's going to be first in the ring!" from his seat in the press gallery.
Tickets for the event would go on sale next week, Dafoe said.
