MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, MASS. (WHDH) - A large bubble athletic facility in Manchester-by-the-Sea had to be deflated Friday after an electrical outage knocked out power to the Manchester Athletic Club and the surrounding area.
Aerial video showed the scene Friday afternoon as personnel could be seen around the then flattened bubble structure.
The bubble facility is home to four tennis courts that also double as pickleball courts.
Issues cropped up around 9 a.m. Friday when the power went out in Manchester-by-the-Sea and neighboring towns.
A pole that came down in Beverly might have been to blame for the outage, according to police.
In the meantime, the Manchester Athletic Club’s Executive Director Bobby Verdun told 7NEWS the facility’s backup generator, which is crucial to keeping the bubble structure inflated, wasn’t turning on.
Athletic club staff, as a result, told members to get out of the bubble before they began a controlled drop. During the drop, staff were hoping that wind whipping through much of New England Friday would hold off to avoid damaging the bubble.
“At the very end, it started to really blow, so we were crossing our fingers,” Verdun said.
Verdun continued, saying the athletic club got lucky, avoiding damage to the bubble other than a slight tear by the structure’s door.
Verdun said crews were working to repair the bubble Friday afternoon.
He said the athletic club team plans to blow the bubble up Saturday morning to hopefully resume play in the afternoon.
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