HALIFAX—The Wanderers Grounds were abuzz with activity Wednesday as workers added finishing touches to the historic downtown site ahead of Saturday’s Canada vs. U.S.A. rugby test match.

The event will be the first hosted at the grounds since last month’s announcement of a Canadian Premier League professional men’s soccer team for Halifax. HFX Wanderers FC will call the site home, playing out of a 6,000-plus seat stadium with a natural grass pitch.

Sports & Entertainment Atlantic will host a series of eight rugby, soccer and football games on the Wanderers Grounds this summer and fall before the HFX Wanderers start using the site next year. As it’s a temporary stadium, the seating will be removed at the end of each year.

On Wednesday morning, a few rugby players were practising while the grounds were being mowed and workers completed the elevated VIP platforms.

“We are looking at this event as a really exciting chance to kick off a dream that we’ve had now for a few years, to bring this site back to life and give Halifax a stadium, and here we are now and we’ve got one,” said Derek Martin, president of SEA, who gave StarMetro a tour of the grounds.

Derek Martin of Sports and Entertainment Atlantic talks about his company's new pop-up stadium on the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax. (Zane Woodford/Silas Brown/StarMetro)

The grounds will accommodate 6,200 spectators for Saturday’s rugby game, and as of Wednesday Martin said only 300 tickets are left. He expects they’ll sell out before the weekend.

“It’s getting very tight … We can’t get more people in, so when we sell out it will be a sell out, and we’re really excited about that,” he said.

The entire site is licensed, so spectators will be able to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages on the grounds.

“Each zone is meant to be self sufficient in that it’s got its own ticket, food and beverage area,” Martin explained. “Obviously it’s all part of the experience, so we want to make sure that people when they’re here can get something to eat and certainly can get something to drink on what we hope is a nice sunny day.”

He’s looking at Saturday’s event as a testing ground for the future.

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“As we’ve said from the get go, this year is a learning experience for us,” he said. “We have gone with the recommendations that we have been given by providers and suppliers and we will determine after this game if that’s the right amount or if there should be more or if there should be less or we’ll see how it all goes.”

Martin said Saturday’s event consists of much more than the 4 p.m. rugby game. He points to Argyle Street, where there will be a pregpre-gamelgate party from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a post-game street party from 6 to 11 p.m. Both those parties are free.

The response from Haligonians has been rewarding to see for Martin, who said the number of tickets sold already for this weekend’s game is an indication that this year’s planned events are going to be successful.

“That’s a great feeling,” he said of the ticket sales, “and a validation that we weren’t crazy and that this was something that the city of Halifax and the community wanted.”

Yvette d’Entremont is a Halifax-based reporter covering health, environment and education. Follow her on Twitter: @ydentremont

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