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(Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

Pandemic cause for farm show cancellation

Apr 27, 2020 | 3:43 PM

The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted the cancellation of a popular farm show in Regina in June.

Regina Exhibition Association president and CEO, Tim Reid said it was a tough decision but an important one for public health reasons.

He said there will be no farm progress show this year.

“We held out as long as we possibly could and went back to our advisory board asking them if we should we postpone,” Reid said. “Given the public health order that’s in effect and just the risk of global, provincial and national travel right now we thought it was the right thing to do.”

The farm show is a foundational event for the exhibition association. Reid said losing the show will be a huge financial blow.

“This is something we’ve been hosting for almost a half a century and it’s a big revenue piece for us as a business and a substantial revenue driver and so to make this decision was really difficult,” he said.

The farm show was going to be very different this year. It was announced in December it would take on a new name, Canada’s Farm Show, and run June 16 to 18 with a new Tuesday to Thursday format, a change from the original Wednesday to Friday schedule. It would also be held entirely indoors.

Reid said discussions have already started when the next show will be held.

“Right now we’re looking at one potential alternative date in the spring of 2021 or our traditional time in June. But it’s been decided we will not have a show in 2020. We’ll be postponing for a year,” Reid said.

alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF