April 8th. Update: I wanted to share what we know as of today. For now AMA is saying we are still a ‘go’ but they are monitoring. The site is still closed but key people are working from home. They set an arbitrary date to decide whether to cancel or go of June 10th. I’d think if they decide to cancel we might know a little sooner.
In the event the Nats are still on we convened an PAMPA Executive Counsel meeting with some added guests; former PAMPA presidents, former EDs and some other usual suspects to talk about option and contingency plans in case we actually DO have the Nats this year.
One thing we universely accept is that our turn out will be down-or way down. There will a few directly affected by the virus. Many have or will have their finances seriously damaged. Some may choose to use vacation time to stay home a while. There may still be some interstate travel restrictions. It is likely even if they open things up the virus will still lurk out there and create apprehension to travel.
If we get a ‘go’ in the last few weeks prior it will be a challenge to get prepared in time including ordering trophies, etc. Being in the spot of not knowing what will happen we have made no effort to raise funds either. Some of this will not be offset through donations so the bill will need to be covered more from the PAMPA treasury.
We’ve had concerns in case some of our judges couldn’t make it as well as contestants. After looking over several options I have decided (so blame me) to try to run as close to the regular weeks’ schedule as possible including the unofficial events on Sunday. If our count is low for Open we may for the first time have a Top 16 or Top 12, however the computer program dictates. If the count is below 15 in Open we MAY combine the two Qualifying days into one and finish Friday instead of Saturday. All for now. BTW. Current pre- entries as of today: Open-3, Advanced: 1.