Saskatoon police investigate multiple bear spray incidents at Saskatoon Ex

Several Saskatoon Ex patrons reportedly dealt with some unfortunate events this year.

The Saskatoon Police Service is investigating three separate incidents in which bear spray was used within the grounds of the Saskatoon Ex.

Nancy Chandara attended the Ex multiple times this year and said a couple of people she went with each suffered the effects of a bear spray incident on different days.

Chandara said the first incident happened on Thursday night during the Streetheart concert near a washroom facility.

“She was waiting for her husband to come out and what she thought was two kids (were) running around spraying each other and she got some (bear) spray in her eyes,” Chandara said.

Chandara said she was baffled when she heard the news from her friend. After posting the news on social media, several of her friends commented with similar stories of their own.

“My first thought was, ‘No way. Things like that don’t happen here in Saskatchewan,’ and then sure enough, when I posted it on social media, two of my other friends also commented and said they knew other people that had been pepper sprayed the same night,” she said.

Just two nights later at the Trooper concert, a similar situation unfolded.

The husband of the wife who was sprayed on Thursday went to get a drink during the concert when a sea of people started running for the exit. All of a sudden, the husband was suffering the effects from the spray, as were many others in the area.

Chandara said Trooper even paused the concert for roughly five to 10 minutes to let everyone recuperate from the spray incident and make sure everybody was OK.

Chandara said her two friends are from a small town and aren’t used to big crowds, so it was a rattling experience for them to go through.

She says she feels horrible for anyone who had their Ex experience ruined by bear spray.

“How does someone get into the Exhibition with pepper spray?” Chandara asked. “(It’s) very, very, very disappointing that someone would do such a dumb act, especially when the concert was absolutely amazing.”

Chandara says her two friends will be OK.

Saskatoon police confirmed multiple people were reporting minor injuries from the concert Saturday night. Paramedics were on scene assisting people with more severe injuries.

A similar event occurred on the final day of Regina’s Queen City Ex.