Once Lamkey and his conversions crew finished installing the in-fill flooring, they turned their attention to removing the glass and dasher boards, which generally takes an additional hour-and-a-half.

"Typically, all of our conversions [from ice to concert mode] are about the same, but timelines change," said Lamkey. "This one was a little more challenging because [the tour] was going to roll their trucks up at 2:00 AM, and once the first truck arrives the pressure's on to give them the floor." 

With the Oilers game ending around 10:30 PM that night, many of the Rogers Place crew were just beginning their shifts.

"There are many variables that come with NHL games, like overtime. If there's overtime, how does that delay things?" Lamkey asked.

The answer is to over-prepare.   

"It's just planning," explained Lamkey. "You stage everything that needs to go out on the floor in the marshaling area and you try to keep it organized."

At approximately 2:30 AM on Friday, February 17, you would have found Papirny standing at the East Loading Dock inside Rogers Place, beaming with pride.

"We basically did what we normally do in six hours, in under four hours!" she grinned as she recalled those early hours on Friday morning. "By the time they were staging trucks (preparing trucks to unload), the concert floor was done, all the glass was removed and retractable seating was put away."

Next up is 'chalking'.

"Then they'll do an analysis of the building, check where the stage is going, get all their measurements and then they'll begin to chalk," said Papirny.

Chalking is the process where the Head Rigger from the tour begins to mark on the venue floor exactly where everything will be set up once it rolls off of the trucks.

With a total of 21 trucks rolling in for Garth's tour, some extra help is required on-location. This is where the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, or IATSE, come in.

"IATSE are our local support for stage hands," explained Papirny. "They help with unloading trucks, rigging, setting up, etc."

As most of the city was asleep, nearly 100 IATSE members and tour crew at Rogers Place worked throughout the night to prepare for what would soon become a historic - and banner-worthy - moment for the city of Edmonton. 

Although every event at Rogers Place can offer new situations or issues that arise, the biggest challenge during Garth Brooks was the turnover of the building in an extremely short timeframe during his double-show days.

"This is where coordination through Event Command was critical to our success," said Kobi.

The building not only had to plan and prepare to transition approximately 18,000 people out of the building, while bringing another 18,000 in, but they also needed to restock, clean and reset - all within 30 minutes.

"It was a really strong coordinated effort on behalf of the venue team," said Parsons. "Everyone had a responsibility, but everyone also helped each other out."

With eyes up in Event Command, it was all-hands-on-deck below.

"We had our General Manager helping to vacuum suites, we had our Director of Ticketing helping pick up garbage - it was true teamwork," smiled Parsons.

She added, "The first day [Saturday] we turned-over the building in just under 45 minutes and the second day [Sunday] was about 30 minutes. So we shaved a good 15 minutes off of our time. The tour told us that we were the fastest flip in any market they'd seen. Considering we've only been open for six months, that's a huge kudos to our team."

The venue surpassed this record on the following Saturday, with a turnover in just 25 minutes. 

Papirny commented, "Not only did we continually meet the tour's expectations, but we exceeded them."

But while the team inside the building worked to restock and reset, another team was hard at work outside, coordinating egress and staging fans for ingress.

In order to open gates for the new fans arriving at the second show, the team had to be sure all the fans from the first show had exited the building. Furthermore, the venue partnered with Edmonton Police Services (EPS) to assist in coordinating the crowd, ensuring a smooth and organized transition took place.

"I planned for, at any given time, 30,000 people to be in and around our building during that transition period," said Kobi.

That's nearly the same amount of passengers that 82 Boeing 747s can carry.

"Based on the volume of people that we would have around Rogers Place, we knew we'd have to close 104 Ave," added Kobi. 

This is where the collaborative effort between the venue and EPS played an important role in the transition.

With a Police Commander operating from the Event Command Centre inside Rogers Place, the team was able to orchestrate crowd flow, utilizing 104 Ave as pedestrian laneways, while safely staging lines of fans to prepare for ingress.

"I met with EPS in the weeks leading up to the Garth Brooks shows and we developed a plan," explained Kobi. "It's critical that we work collaboratively to execute that plan. They can't execute that plan in isolation, nor can we."

While those up in Event Command are the eyes and the ears of the building - using CCTV to watch and radio to communicate - it is those who are on the ground that carry out the direction from above.

And on the ground is exactly where you will find Lamkey and Papriny's team.

If any issues or repairs around the building are reported up to Event Command, Lamkey will be notified and his team will deploy.

"In between shows we do a lot of chair repairs, so my team will deploy to fix those," he said. "We also do a reset of the 1,600 chairs on the floor, making sure we haven't infringed on any fire regulations."

With more than 16,000 bags of popcorn sold and 30,000 cans of Molson Canadian sold during the concert run, restocking was also something to be considered.

"They had overnight crews dealing with restocking because we had to keep up with the high demand, so all of our teams have to work together," said Papriny.

"Until you actually see it in motion, it's just a plan on a piece of paper," she added. "But it's everyone that we work with that puts that plan and that piece of paper to action - and we nailed it!"

Despite the stress of a tight schedule, it was still all smiles from the Rogers Place team.

"Everyone was happy," said Parsons. "Everyone was excited, and that's what made this successful!"

"I mean, he's Garth Brooks!" beamed Lamkey.

During the show on Friday, February 24, Trisha interrupted her own set to invite Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) CEO and Vice Chair Bob Nicholson, and Rogers Place General Manager Susan Darrington, up onto the stage. 

Thanking both Garth and Trisha for the incredible energy they brought to Rogers Place, Nicholson and Darrington revealed the newest banner to decorate the Rogers Place rafters - commemorating the nine sold-out concerts.

"That's awesome!" Garth said, overcome by emotion.

In a special video message from Wayne Gretzky, the Great One himself congratulated Garth and Trisha on their achievement.

The crowd erupted in an electrifying cheer as he added, "As you can tell, we have the greatest fans in Edmonton, and in Alberta!"

Even without the banner as a permanent reminder, fans and those involved in the success of the nine Garth Brooks shows at Rogers Place will not soon be forgetting the excitement created by 'Garthmania'.

"The relationship of Garth Brooks to Rogers Place will go down in history," said Papirny.

Whether you were a fan amongst the crowd at one of the Garth Brooks shows, or a fan anticipating an upcoming Oilers game, Rogers Place offers an unforgettable experience in more ways than one.  

"I think everyone has something they can look forward to," said Lamkey. "To see this building come alive, it's amazing."

As the tour wrapped and the last of the tour trucks drove off, Event Command finally fell silent.

However, not all was quiet, as a new Rogers Place crew was just beginning their shift - uncovering the ice, preparing for the next big event. 

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