An overabundance of space: How Saskatoon's big venues are functioning in a pandemic

Where raucous weddings once roared at the Sheraton hotel in Saskatoon, now a gavel bangs.

As of Friday only 30 people at a time are allowed to be in the hotel ballroom — which has a typical capacity of 500 — based on new public health restrictions. When in there, or any other room in the building aside from the restaurants, staff cannot serve food or any drinks.

The only exception to the 30-person rule has been the makeshift courtroom that's been operating there in situations when the actual courtrooms in Saskatoon can't allow for physical distancing.

Weddings flipped with 36-hour notice

While the limit for all other events is capped at 30, it's a rarity to book any more than 18 guests at a wedding these days, says Shawna Nelson, the director of sales and marketing at the Sheraton.

Nelson says the hotel had a wedding booked for the weekend — a couple that had already rejigged their plans three or four times — and while they tried to adapt as quickly as they could to offer the meal for guests at the hotel's restaurant rather than a banquet space, the couple cancelled.

"We just had some weddings that just said enough is enough and we are done with this," Nelson says.

A few companies have held the occasional workshop in the hotel's convention rooms, and they've been so spaced out that people each have their own table to sit at.

Nelson says the caveat that people now can't eat during gatherings in those spaces "just doesn't make a lot of sense." She says people used to eat alone at a table, but now have to go down to the hotel's restaurant and can eat at a table with three other people — in effect, making things less safe than the way they were previously.

'A banquet is just a meeting'

Over at TCU Place, the convention centre is saying goodbye to calling events banquets because "when you take away the food, a banquet is just a meeting," says TCU Place's acting CEO Tammy Sweeney.

TCU Place reopened in August for modified events. In September, after adding a second show to keep up with demand, Chantal Kreviazuk's voice rang out in the Sid Buckwold Theatre to a capacity audience. Usually, capacity would mean a total of 2,074 people per show, but with physical distancing measures it was only 120 people per performance.

The mission now is "not just entertainment, it's about entertainment and feeling safe," Sweeney said.

Getting down to business in the convention centre has been even more complex. On Oct. 2, it hosted its first big event: the Saskatoon Achievement in Business Excellence Awards.

Orchestrating the event in accordance with provincial rules meant the space had nine rooms operating with 30 people per room, and to make the experience equitable for all attendees, the speakers delivered their message over video feed from a separate room where it was just them and a video crew.

Sweeney recalls thinking "this is nuts" to have only 30 people in a room when the space usually has a capacity of 1,000 people. 

The run-throughs were stressful, and for the following 10 days, Sweeney said she held her breath hoping that after following all the measures there would be no COVID-19 cases related to the event.

They got the all-clear, and looking back, Sweeney says the event was "incredible" because it gave people a reason to dress up, go out and feel the energy of being around people.

None of the events they've been running are sustainable, and flexibility has been given to those who book at TCU Place, Sweeney says. To counter this, they are applying for the wage subsidy, looking for alternative sources of revenue and have beefed up the audio-visual equipment offerings to be more flexible with what clients need, she says.

Space for voting, jury selection

TCU Place lost 380 events that had been planned for this year, and the new restrictions — as well as hesitance to host events — means that the 15 small Christmas parties it had been planning are now off the books.

In the end, the space has found a few uses: it as a voting spot during the elections, will potentially host some jury selections and hosted a summit prior to the municipal election.

Sweeney is requesting more consultation with the province's business response team instead of a blanket policy of maximum 30 people, no matter the space in which an event is operation.

"We're in the business of keeping people safe. It's what we do every day outside of COVID. Even so, we have plans in place to keep people safe from the time they enter to the time that they leave," she says.

Over at the Sheraton, Nelson has conceded that her days will largely be spent answering the phone with people asking what is possible under the current government restrictions.

She's become a point person between the public and the government's rules. Nelson says she knows the hours she spends answering questions, even if it ends up with groups booking events, will mostly end up as cancellations.