It was another one of the best photos I’ve never taken.
I was standing at the corner of Bedford and Bloor waiting for the light to change. I looked across at Varsity Centre; the sun was just peaking over the stadium seating. I thought to myself, “I really should carry my camera with me.” The light changed and I crossed the street, heading toward Devonshire Place.
As I made my way south on Devonshire I noticed there were several workmen on the track at Varsity Centre. I looked at the dome and it appeared to be deflating. “Oh, no!” I exclaimed, “I really wanted to write a story about this.”
Continuing down Devonshire, I thought, “Well, I’m here now. Even if I can’t get a photograph of this, I can at least stay and watch it happen.”
I managed to catch the attention of one of the Varsity Centre crewmen and confirmed that they were deflating the dome. He mentioned it would take about twenty minutes to happen and it will take a crew of about fifty to one hundred people a total of two days to pack up the dome and stow it away for the season.
I asked him how they deflate the dome, he said, we open the doors, turn off the fans and let the air out. “It’s like a big balloon.”
So, as the dome expelled air, I watched the cables that keep it in place and give it shape start to slacken. The centre section began to collapse first, turning the dome into a marshmallow valley. As I stood at the fence on the west side of the stadium I caught a faint smell of the air being released. The polyester dome still has that ‘new’ smell, the same way a new car has its own smell.
The work crew began assembling around the doorways with what appeared to be two-by-four boards. They prodded the sides, pushing the falling fabric back, preventing it from collapsing and covering the doorways.
Sure enough, after about twenty minutes the fabric was pooled around the bottom of the doorways, the last of the remaining air had retreated to the corners and the dome lay on the field.
