After an incident at a Calgary nightclub that left dozens injured and lawsuits pending, the Brock University Students’ Union has put the kibosh on further foam parties at Isaac’s Bar on campus.
The decision was made jointly by Rob Morosin, the pub’s manager, and Duncan Small, BUSU President.
An April foam party at the Back Alley nightclub in Calgary made news when over three dozen of 500 patrons were sent to hospital and treated with varying degrees of chemical burns to their eyes.
The burns were the result of close contact with chemicals used in the making of bubbles that were spilled from above on to the dance floor and transformed into a foam bath. Party-goers speculated that the chemicals had been improperly mixed.
Both Morosin and Small agreed that, under the circumstances, continuing to host the parties at Isaac’s would be risky.
"It’s just not putting the safety of our patrons, of students, first," Small said. He added that as a student-run and operated establishment, Isaac’s has a particular duty to protect the safety of its patrons. He felt that all bar owners should take their patrons’ safety seriously.
Morosin said that the bar had a couple of complaints about minor irritations, mostly from people with allergic reactions. Morosin definitely felt that he would have reacted badly if something were to happen as it did at the Back Alley.
"I would’ve gone insane," he said. "I would’ve started running and not stopped until I got home to Hamilton."
– with files from the Calgary Herald