Cancellations starting to affect events

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This article was published 13/03/2020 (2176 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the same day that the first three cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Manitoba, various events were being postponed or cancelled in the Wheat City on Thursday.

That includes the Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards gala, which was cancelled less than 12 hours before it was scheduled to take place. The local Chamber followed in step with the Winnipeg and provincial chambers and cancelled or postponed all its events for the next 30 days.

“It was a long decision and a tough decision to make,” Chamber president Cathy Snelgrove said. “It was really tough because we were hours away from putting (the gala) on. There’s been a lot of people that have done a lot of great work in terms of getting the event set up. That’s one side of it. The other side of it was that we didn’t want to be seen as reactionary, so we really had to weigh it out.”

Snelgrove told the Sun that the organization is planning to reschedule the event at a later date.

“We’ll celebrate our award-winners when it’s really safe for us to do so,” she said.

Another cancellation made on Thursday was for the annual Brandon Jazz Festival, which was scheduled to take place from March 19-21. Executive director Brent Campbell said the festival would not be rescheduled this year because it is the only weekend available for the festival to run.

“We’ll take a year off,” Campbell said. “With the rapidly changing situation with the coronavirus and a confirmed case in Manitoba now, we thought it was for the best because we’ve got all those kids together in concerts and sharing equipment. It was just not a good situation to take the chance.”

Campbell’s comments came before two additional cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the province. He added that 4,500 students were scheduled to take part in this year’s festival.

Here is a roundup of the latest news regarding local upcoming events:

• The Brandon Jazz Festival set for March 19-21 has been cancelled, executive director Brent Campbell told the Sun on Thursday. 

• The upcoming High Valley with Eli Young Band & Lindsay Ell concert on May 29 at Westoba Place might be affected by tour organizer Live Nation putting all of its current tours on hold. Billboard reported on Thursday that Live Nation will reevaluate the situation at the beginning of April. 

• The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is still on track to take place, but general manager Ron Kristjansson said Thursday that the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba is monitoring the situation.

• The Keystone Centre has not cancelled any events scheduled to take place and will look at each upcoming event on a case-by-case basis. The Gord Bamford concert went on as scheduled on Thursday evening. However, the Brandon Wheat Kings’ season has been suspended, along with the entire Canadian Hockey League’s operations.

• Assiniboine Community College and Brandon University have not yet made any changes to their day-to-day operations. The ACC Cougars women’s hockey team will not be travelling to Texas later this month to defend their championship after the American Collegiate Hockey Association cancelled the tournament.

• All Brandon Chamber of Commerce events have been cancelled or postponed for the next 30 days, including the annual awards gala that was due to take place Thursday evening. 

• All Western Manitoba Regional Library branches, including the one in Brandon, will be closed March 23 in alignment with Manitoba public schools.

• The Brandon School Division decided on Monday to cancel two spring break trips to Europe students were scheduled to take as well as all other student travel out of the country. At Monday’s board of trustees meeting, senior administration said they would consult with unions representing staff and faculty in the division to determine if travel for employees would also be banned. Assistant Supt. Mathew Gustafson told the Sun on Thursday that the division would be providing an update on Friday.

• Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium general manager Tom Crook told the Sun that nothing was being cancelled through this weekend, including Mecca Productions’ performances of Monty Python’s “Spamalot.” Crook said he would be able to provide greater detail on Friday.

• The Sun was unable to reach representatives at Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba and the Western Manitoba Regional Library in Brandon on Thursday to see if their events were being affected.

This list will be updated as more information is made available. The Sun’s coverage of the ongoing situation with the coronavirus will be made free to view for all readers online at brandonsun.com.

» cslark@brandonsun.com, with files from Drew May

» Twitter: @ColinSlark