Steering closer to normal: Easter Beef Show gets ready for return
CBC News | Posted: March 10, 2022 8:53 PM | Last Updated: March 10, 2022
Not yet clear whether spectators will be allowed to attend, organizers say
The Easter Beef Show and Sale — an annual high point in Prince Edward Island's agriculture industry — is making a gradual return to normal this year, although it's not yet been determined if spectators will be able to attend.
Buyers and sellers will be able to interact with each other once again when the sale runs on March 24 to 25 as COVID-19 restrictions are slated to lift.
The show had to cancel its plans in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Canada.
The show returned to Charlottetown's Eastlink Centre in 2021, but exhibitors and buyers were kept apart and restricted in where they could participate. Spectators were able to watch online.
"Last year we came back, we had a record sale. The best sales we ever had in our history, I guess. The buyers came back and supported us even [more]," said show president James Worth.
'A more fun atmosphere'
This year, the Eastlink Centre is operating at 75 per cent capacity, which means buyers and sellers can interact as they did before pre-pandemic.
The show will be also streamed online.
"This year we're able to have the buyers back down [in] the original format. [We'll] put them in the grandstands looking at the cattle instead of over the screens," Worth said.
"We like that, and it creates a more fun atmosphere for the buyers because they can see the cattle and the people [who] are showing them can see the exhibitors … It's just a more lively atmosphere this way."
Worth said it's not yet clear whether spectators will be able to join in person as P.E.I. grapples with its highest wave of the pandemic.
That decision will be made closer to the event, he said.