Less than an hour after Sylvan Lake RCMP, firefighters, and ambulance personnel rushed to Sylvan Lake Arena about 1 a.m. Monday, pictures and information about the collapse of the roof were circulating around the world, through the Facebook page of Sylvan Lake News.
Two pictures, showing the demolished back wall and gaping holes in the roof where beams had fallen, were accompanied by comments from Mayor Sean McIntyre and Councillor Graham Parsons (who’s also the arena operator and head of Sylvan Lake Summer Hockey Camp) and other news.
By 10:30 Monday morning, more than 13,800 people had already seen the pictures and read the story. That number continued to grow throughout the week.
At press time, Tuesday night, the initial story had been seen by over 25,000 people; an update was viewed by 2,906 people and a daytime picture had attracted 16,008 people.
News from Tuesday night’s special Sylvan Lake council meeting was posted early Wednesday morning, in the ongoing saga of the arena, and started receiving readers quickly.
It’s amazing the worldwide interest this tragedy has attracted. The initial story, seen by over 25,000 people is by far the highest tally we’ve recorded in our history with the Facebook page.