CHICAGO (BRAIN) — CABDA show director Jim Kersten said next week's CABDA East trade show in New Jersey is going ahead as planned, even after at least 11 exhibitors have told him they plan to pull out. The show originally had 156 registered exhibitors.
Kersten said most of the withdrawals are due to company policies preventing booth staff from flying to events.
"Local and state health officials continue to cofirm that risk of transmission remains very low," Kersten told BRAIN. "Nevertheless we will still implement our heightened safety measures including mandatory hand sanitization for all participants. I was at an event at the venue today and it was well attended."
The event is next Wednesday and Thursday, March 11-12 at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. It is the first CABDA event to be held on the East Coast.
"(This is) not the debut we wanted but I think with intelligent precautions, we'll be just fine," Kersten added.
Kersten did not name the 11 exhibitors that have pulled out. BRAIN has learned that Feedback Sports, Marin, BikeCo (parent company of Fuji, SE and Breezer), and Alta Cycling Group (parent of Diamondback and Redline) will not exhibit as planned.
Recently the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, set to be held later this month, was postponed to August; the Sea Otter Classic, scheduled for April, has been postponed to an undetermined date. QBP also has canceled a Service Summit that had been scheduled for March 23-25 in Maryland. Earlier, the Taipei Cycle show, which was originally scheduled for the first week in March, was canceled, with a smaller event planned for May in Taipei.
The National Shared Mobility Summit, scheduled for March 17-19 in Chicago, is still being held. E-Bike Challenge Minneapolis, a major e-bike consumer event, is still scheduled to take place March 28-29.
More information: cabda.com/event/cabda-east.
