The general manager of the Schwaben Club says he’s “99 per cent” sure that the German club will be able to open for Oktoberfest merriment Friday night, and for the remainder of the festival.
“It looks like we’re going to be able to open the festhalls tonight, which is a relief – because it got pretty scary around here for a while,” Don Egley said Friday afternoon.
Thursday evening, water started pouring into the building’s basement. A plumber was called in, crews worked through the night, and it appeared the problem was under control.
Friday morning, a maintenance worker discovered that water was once again coming into the basement.
“When I got here about (8:15 a.m.) there was like three inches of water down here,” Egley said.
Work continued through the day Friday to dry out the basement and ready the club for Oktoberfest celebrations.
The problem was eventually traced to roadwork happening outside the hall, along King Street.
The club’s two main halls are on an upper floor. While they were not directly affected by the flooding, they would not have been able to open Friday night had the building been without water – which was the case for most of the day Friday, although Egley said he had been assured that water service would return by late afternoon.
“We’re going to be hooking everything up and making sure we’re good to go,” he said.
The Schwaben Club had been planning to run a buffet in its basement for the first time this year. Egley said the buffet would not take place Friday night, and whether it could open later in the festival remained an open question.
