The Sign Association of Canada (SAC-ACE) board of directors has voted to cancel Sign Expo Canada (SEC) 2021. The show was to take place Sept. 9-11 at The International Centre (Hall 5) in Mississauga, Ontario.
The official press release from the association states: “Acknowledging the large financial commitment required to hold and participate in SAC’s Sign Expo Canada, combined with the current restrictions on travel, the continuing pandemic and the related economic uncertainties, the board decided to cancel the 2021 show. The board has opted to focus the organization’s time and resources into providing programs and services that can help our industry respond, recover and rebuild throughout all of 2021.”
SAC president Carl Weger says, “When I’m not willing to commit to going to SEC and I’m the president, it’s pretty hard to ask anyone else. We hope for things to be back to normal by September, but we couldn’t plan a show based on hope. To be safe and fair to our exhibitors and members, we wanted to make sure it was clear the show will not be held as early as possible. Although SEC has great value, this decision will allow us to focus on developing new long-term value to our members and make the association stronger.”
The association looks forward to gathering in person in 2022 and remains steadfast in its mission to members.
“While it may seem early to be making this decision, we were at a crossroads, needing to make financial commitments that would cost the association if we cancelled at a later date,” explains SAC Executive Director Karin Eaton. “Making the decision now—out of an abundance of caution for SAC-ACE as well as our exhibitors and attendees—was the prudent decision. Based on our conversations with our stakeholders as well as following the daily updates on the realistic vaccine rollout dates to majority of the population in Canada and abroad, we are not confident we can deliver the exceptional experience both for our exhibitors and attendees. Same as always, when it comes to SEC, our objective is to deliver an outstanding networking, learning, and business-building experience for the Canadian sign industry, and we look forward to delivering that in 2022.”
For more info, contact Eaton at karin.eaton@signs.org.
