The news has just been released regarding the cancellation of this year's Hutchwilco NZ Boat Show.
In the light of the Covid -19 pandemic show organisers has advised the show would be postponed from its May dates with a 'watch this space' advisory regading new dates.
Today show promoter Dave Gibbs announced what many in the industry suspected, the show will not go on in 2020.
The show has been going for 65 years and has survived floods, the GFC, marine industry taxes and burst lakes, but it took a world-wide virus to stop the show.
Hundreds of businesses in the marine industry use the event to showcase their product over four days before some 37,000 patrons. It is looked forward to by anglers with the fishing court being one of the most popular aspects of the show.
I take my hat off to Dave, Veronica and the team. They have committed to fully refunding the exhibitors' deposits as well as on-line ticket purchases, despite having incurred large and unrecoverable costs themselves. Details around how this process will take place will be announced soon.
The show was a big event on NZ Fishing News' calendar. It gave us the opportunity to talk directly with our readers, many of whom took the opportunity to renew subscriptions for the following year.
It was also a good time to touch base with our many clients and we also looked forward to the show awards where the best in the in industry were honoured.
I guess we just have to be patient - there has been a bit of that needed over the last few weeks! - and look forward to the 2021 event in May of that year.