CONVENTION HAS BEEN CANCELED

The 2020 NWHS Convention in Cleveland is postponed to 2021. It’s not completely official yet, explanation below, but please assume it’s not going to happen in 2020 and plan accordingly. We didn’t want further uncertainty for you all in your planning, as it may not be “official” for a few more weeks. And I’m sure most of you have other more pressing concerns right now.

I’m supposed to say this was a difficult decision. It was not. Looking at the potential downside and what’s going on around us it almost became a no-brainer. It’s very sad, and very tough to deal with, considering how important the annual convention is and the amount of work we’ve put into it.

It’s not official yet, as we are still working out the financial details of the cancellation with the hotel. Right now, there’s a penalty for cancelling or postponing the convention. We are highly confident that this will be resolved soon either negotiating with the hotel or by government edict. Meanwhile, we have tentatively rescheduled the convention, hopefully the same program, with the hotel, Age of Steam, Warthers, and the bus line, for the same weekend in 2021. If you’ve registered for the convention already, you may ask for a refund, or just tell us to hold onto your registration for next year. Refunds will be issued in full upon request, but please allow some time: multiple people working from homes have to get payment records, addresses together and someone will have to write out a stack of checks.

This has been the summary. If you want more of the reasoning and have the time, the explanation continues.

The health and safety of our members, registrants, and their families has to take priority. We could not go forward with this convention in all good conscience if there was any measurable risk to attendees, even if various authorities gave us an “all clear” by June 4th. And we, and we suspect the vast majority of you all, don’t want to run the risk of unknowingly picking up something and taking it back home. And some of you have already expressed concerns as to your safety in Ohio, or states you pass through on the way, in early June, or possibly even later this summer.

The Stay At Home order in Ohio has already been extended to May 1. There is an excellent chance that it will be extended further. Also as of next week anyone entering Ohio from another state is being “asked” to self-quarantine for two weeks upon arrival. That, so far, is in force until May 1. As most of you know the Governor of Virginia has put in place a Stay At Home order until June 10th; if this stands, it would be illegal for our Virginia members, our staff, and the Commissary to leave the state. I was informed this morning that West Virginia also has an order for those coming to West Virginia (and possibly through West Virginia)to self-quarantine for two weeks.

I am fairly confident that those of you who work in the medical or related fields understand our position, and that the rate of infection and the mortality percentages are very concerning. As I’m writing this I just got a notice that in the last three days the death toll in New York State has doubled.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please write to me at

vansconf@yahoo,com

Frank Bongiovanni, For the Convention Committee and the NWHS Board of Directors