Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre — Attraction in Medicine Hat

I would just like to express my displeasure with how myself and my partner were treated by your staff today. We were in attendance of a dance competition for our two boys. When we went to walk to their change room, one of the ushers put her hand out in front of my partner and blocked him from proceeding and said “you can’t go back there”. No explanation. I said to her that he is allowed back, we both are headed to the boys change room where our sons were. She refused to let us proceed despite what I told her, and despite us both being back and forth from that change room multiple times through the day. We were both embarrassed and frustrated for being singled out amongst all of the other dance parents and my partner walked away because he didn’t want to be embarrassed any longer. Our kids were texting asking where we were and we both walked away in embarrassment, frustration, and now anger because of the way we were treated. Another woman in a blue vest came over to speak with us after having spoken with the first usher and asked what happened. I explained the situation and she apologized numerous times but then said she would GUIDE us to the change rooms. No other parents needed a chaperone to go to the change rooms but we were deemed to need one. Again, extremely insulting and embarrassing. When we got to the change room and knocked, my own son answered the door to which I had to ask him if he was my child. He gave a confused look and was like “yeah…???” She then left us. I told her that I understand the usher was trying to do her job, but the way we were treated like second class patrons who weren’t allowed to be in the theatre was reprehensible, especially when given an explanation. We spent money at the cafe in support of the theatre, and to be in the theatre but were treated as though we didn’t belong. I also explained that this has happened to me before at the esplanade. When I left the change room, the first usher tried apologizing by saying that she didn’t know there was a boys change room in that area. Funny given that other men and boys were going down that hallway all day. Also, this still would be a shortfall on the part of the theatre because she should have been properly informed of what was happening beforehand so she was aware of how to do her job properly. What came as an even bigger slap in the face is that we had helped the first usher earlier in the day when another patron asked for help from her on where we were in the program. She was lost and confused about one of the dances so I explained where we were in the program and helped the usher and the patron to find out the information they were both looking for. So we had taken time to help her earlier that day and then got treated so poorly in return. Perhaps some training so all of your staff know how to run an event without making patrons of the theatre feel unwelcome or singled out would be beneficial...

Under other circumstances I would give the Esplanade five stars. On this occasion however it is the lowest.

I would like to express my disappointment at my fully documented, doubly vaccinated , masked, out-of-country daughter not being allowed to enter the Esplanade . As she resides in the USA but was vaccinated in Canada, she has not needed a QR code to date. She therefore attended with all of her documentation - which has been accepted in all other places - and was not allowed in. Very disappointing and embarrassing as well. Our hope is that your policy around proof of vaccination allowed for situations such as this. Obtaining a QR code under her circumstances takes 2-3 weeks - as we found out once she came home and uploaded her...

We had our wedding here and it not only was The Esplanade a beautiful place for our wedding, but the staff went above and beyond to make everything run incredibly smoothly! From setting up our tables and chairs (for both ceremony and reception), to coming to get me from the "bridal room" once everyone was seated on the terrace, giving us full access of their sound systems, and helping us with the little odds and ends that were forgotten about that day - they could not have impressed us any more! The price for all that we got was also amazing! It's a beautifully updated place for a wedding that needs minimum decorating, and many options to make the day the way...