By Nancy Brennick, Past-President and Flower Show Committee Chairperson
After 40+ years of Connecticut Flower & Garden Shows, the health situation has forced a cancellation of the February 2021 show. This decision was handed down from the Conn. Convention Center and the show’s planner, Kristi Gonsalves, President of North East Expos.
Kristi based her difficult decision on the fact that, “The show utilizes every inch of space in the convention center’s Exhibition Hall as well as several seminar rooms. Employing socially distanced booths, one-way aisles, and limiting the number of people inside at any one time would not only be difficult, but could affect the bottom line of hundreds of quality exhibitors, landscapers and vendors, some of whom travel here from across the country. ” Gonsalves continued to explain that, “They count on our show to generate over 40,000 eager attendees so they can display, promote and sell their services and products. For them, substantially reduced foot traffic would be extremely detrimental….”
When we visit a beautiful, joyful show like ours, we sometimes forget it takes months and months of planning and toil to get the live displays, seminar speakers and exhibitors in sync for the four-day event. The good news is we have more time to plan our participation in the 2022 show which is already scheduled for February 24th – 27th, 2022. See you then!