Heritage Park's SS Moyie will be back in the Glenmore Reservoir this year
The boat couldn't sail last year because work on the dam required water levels to drop
After a summer in the dry dock, the SS Moyie will once again ply the waters of the Glenmore Reservoir.
Heritage Park's historic paddle wheeler couldn't paddle last year because water levels had to be dropped for upgrades to the dam in southwest Calgary.
CEO Alida Visbach has previously said the docking of the Moyie cost Heritage Park more than $700,000 in lost revenue in 2018.
Now she says it could be more.
"Combined as well as with the fact that we couldn't have ticketed events or private functions on the ship, which is quite popular, we lost about $1.2 million last year," she said.
Deficit and funding
Visbach says Heritage Park has a deficit for the first time in its 54-year history.
City council approved a $500,000 increase in the park's annual subsidy, but Heritage Park had requested a $1-million budget boost.
The docking of the Moyie did have one upside, however.
"We did some major refurbishment on the boat," said Visbach.
"It has not actually been refurbished since it arrived in Calgary in 1965. So it was time and it was a good opportunity to be able to keep it out of the water for an entire summer season to be able to do the work on the hull and then spruce it up, just in general."