Electrical fire causes damages to Arcadia in Ballard

Arcadia, Ballard’s aerial arts performance space, is recovering from a fire that started early Tuesday morning.

Charly McCreary, Managing Director of Arcadia, told My Ballard that one of the studio’s renters, Kathleen Donohue from Ladysweat, discovered the studio filled with smoke when she arrived at 6am. She called the fire department, who managed to quickly put out the fire, which was caused by a malfunctioning speaker.

McCreary said the fire destroyed the speaker and a nearby rug, but the real damage was caused by soot and smoke.

“We are having to do extensive deep cleaning to address the soot and residual smoke smell, however, and expect that some of our aerial fabrics and theatrical drapes may not be recoverable.” She said their theatrical curtains were given to them by the Seattle Opera and are irreplaceable. The total cost of damages so far is $2,500.

Despite the damage, McCreary hopes to reopen the studio tonight or tomorrow depending if they can clear out the residual smoke.

“Huge thanks to the small army of volunteers who spent the entire day at Arcadia yesterday vacuuming, cleaning, and washing costumes and other items,” she said. The studio is in the middle of a show, Timaeus — this weekend will be their second weekend of the show.

“A great way the community can help us recover from the fire would be – come to the show! Ticket sales create resources for us to replace damaged equipment and recoup losses related to yesterday’s studio closure,” McCreary said.

Tickets for Timaeus for Friday, Saturday and Sunday (8pm) are available here.

2 thoughts to “Electrical fire causes damages to Arcadia in Ballard”

  1. Headline should have read: LadySweat Douses Fire!! Would have gotten more readers… and it’s true! LadySweat saved the day!! YAY!

  2. Thank you to Kathleen from Lady sweat for totally saving the day! Not only did she save the building but has seriously saved my life with creating such an amazing workout such as ladysweat. I need Ladysweat in my life!!!

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