Fort Wayne Show Moved to March
Published: Friday, November 27, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has cancelled many summer fairs and fall festivals, and now it's affecting plans for winter farm shows.
Last week, officials with TradExpos Inc., the business that promotes the Fort Wayne Farm Show, announced that the mid-January event at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum has been postponed to March 9-11.
Fred Cline, who has been farm show director for 26 years, said the farm show had received approval from the county health department to hold the show, with restrictions, from Jan. 12-14. Then, last Wednesday, Allen County was moved from orange to red on the COVID-19 risk map. Red represents the highest risk level for COVID-19 spread and has even more restrictions for group gatherings.
Cline said TradExpos officials decided they could not hold a successful show with the new restrictions, which included having a maximum of 250 people in the coliseum at one time. So, after surveying vendors, the decision was made to move the event to the second week in March.
There are some disadvantages to hosting the farm show in early spring. By then, most farmers have already purchased their equipment and crop inputs for the planting season. But Cline said having a safe, successful farm show is the No. 1 priority.
Based on responses Cline has received from the show's 400 or so vendors, about three-quarters of them want to move forward with a show in March, while one-quarter have said they won't be participating.
According to Cline, one major seed company, Bayer Crop Science, is not allowing its sales representatives to attend farm shows through the first quarter of 2021. Cline said he respects that decision, considering the ongoing pandemic.
This is also Cline's final year as director of the Fort Wayne Farm Show. He and his wife are planning to head to a warmer climate for a couple of months, leaving as soon as the 2021 show wraps up. With the postponement, Cline said he hasn't cancelled his travel plans but instead will return to Fort Wayne in March to help his replacement, Dan Slowinski, learn the ropes.
This wasn't what Cline was expecting during his final year as show director, but he said 2020 has been that kind of year.
One possible upside to having the farm show in March is that we aren't likely to see any of the harsh winter snow and ice storms that typically strike Michiana in mid-January. But over the years, Cline has noticed an odd connection between the farm show and the timing of extreme weather. For that reason, he isn't ruling out the possibility of a blizzard in March.
Return to Top of Page