Chamber president Graeme Harrington made the announcement March 18, stating their goal is to host the event in 2020, but due to current circumstance it’s too soon to tell if that’s even possible.
“With the restrictions in place there wasn’t much chance of it even being allowed. This was the time to make this decision,” said Harrington in regards to the public health restriction limiting gatherings to 50, plus the social distancing recommendations.
“We’d like to still hold it this calendar year, but in terms of when we’d set a new date will be very much dependant on how this whole thing plays out over the next several weeks.”
The organization also cancelled its March regular meeting — it had been set for March 19 — and may forgo its April meeting also. The group’s AGM will also happen later than originally planned, Harrington added.
“We’ll make a call on the April meeting as it gets closer to that date. And the AGM is kind of on standby until we know when we can have it — we want it to be accessible to anyone who wants to attend.”
Those who have already committed funds to sponsor the gala, or have bought tickets, have the option of reclaiming their funds, or leaving them with the chamber — contact a member of the executive for more info.
“When we do have it, we’d like it to be the full-scale event that we had originally planned,” said Harrington.
Nominations for the awards were extended to Sunday, March 22, although Harrington said there’s a chance they may be re-opened, depending on when the gala is held.
“The nominations that have been submitted will still stand and we may look to, depending on how much time passes, re-open the nominations in the future.”
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