Those differences are part of what make Devon special. They were right to cancel even though it is unfortunate that they had to.
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Without spectators, you canât sell boxes, without boxes you canât even begin to think about covering costs. Absent a wholesale revamp of what the show is (which is not going to happen in a month or even 6 months or even a year) this was not going to be a financially viable show without close to typical numbers of spectators. Iâm not surprised this happened. I am surprised (and sorry) it happened at such a late date. I feel like the failure here was âhoping for the bestâ for way longer than it made sense to. Sorry for everyone who hoped to show. I understand why youâre disappointed.
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I am thankful my kid aged out last year because we 100% would have tried to qualify for Devon and it would have meant spending more money than we normally can afford just to do so⊠to have this show cancelled literally the week after entries were due? crazy! I feel for everyone who put their best efforts, mortgaged their house (so to speak) to qualify this year.
My question is this⊠will JHF run there in July?
I know that isnât the driving force behind the cancellation but I canât disagree that it would be a bad look to invite people from all over the country to a horse show during a pandemic in a state that still has not been able to vaccinate all its eligible citizens who want it, for the benefit of a HOSPITAL, and then have it turn into a supserspreader event (worse case scenario). Even best case scenario, itâs not a great look when the commonwealth/county are still trying to get on top of spread and get vaccinations accomplished.
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Palm Beach ran for 3 months with VIP tables Pin Oak just ran for 3 weeks with VIP tables
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All of the classes at Devon are sponsored, so the ribbons and prize money are covered, for the regular classes. Things like the grand prix I am sure are also sponsored, and I would imagine that generally, the horse show end may not make the big bucks, but I doubt that it loses much.
The money is in the spectators, and their purchases.
The committee that runs Devon has been accused of wanting to sell the grounds for some years now. If that ever comes to pass, it will be a very, very sad day. Devon is not replaceable.
I first showed at Devon in 1973. Iâve shown there in three different seats. It is an amazing experience, regardless.
I have that same question, but I have to think since JHF is in between Brandywine weeks, and treated more like a real horse show without the need for spectators, it probably will be just fine?? I am also curious, thoughâŠ
I thought WEF was no spectators allowed?
Granted, we know thatâs a grey areaâŠbut still, I had understood those VIP tables to be exhibitors, not general public?
Iâm not sure about WEF but WEC and several other horse shows allowed visitors and had no issues that Iâm aware of with COVID.
Heck, the super bowl ran and didnât become a COVID spike. I think Devon could have still ran but reduced their capacity a bit.
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we have a people pandemic, a horse epidemicâŠbut hey, letâs go to horse shows.
Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
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WEC is not a USEF event. Therefore, same rules did not apply. HITS had to adhere to the no spectators policy, as well as WEF, I believe. So I sincerely doubt they were letting VIP tables open to public at WEF. Not sure about Pin Oak?
Thatâs also inaccurate about the SuperBowl. I was in Ocala for the past 3 months. There was a significant spike in Tampa after the event. It was all over the news.
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Sponsors donât give money for no reason. Itâs advertising. They want people seeing and hearing their companyâs name. No spectators (or many fewer) makes sponsorship less attractive. The reality is that the current model is ALL ABOUT spectators. Could the whole model be revamped so itâs not? Sure. Was that going to happen over the course of a few months? Realistically no.
Nobody is trying to sell the grounds. The horse show bought it to preserve it. There are other pieces of property around the grounds that are the subject of various development plans (including this mixed retail/garage thing they want to do next door where the gas station used to be which I think is dumb) but the grounds themselves are in no risk. That rumor has been spread for decades.
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I wasnât saying WEC was a USEF event, just that they were a show allowing spectators.
And everyone from USA Today to Tampa bay News reported there was no significant spike
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USEF horse shows currently are not allowed to have spectators.
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In theory yes, but in practice quite a few of the rated shows Iâve been to in the past year did not enforce that.
There is even disparity between shows in California, which has had pretty strict rules. Some are very strict, others seem to let pretty much anyone in. And there are a lot of new âgrooms.â
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Iâm no fan of USEF, but it doesnât seem reasonable to expect a governing body to be able to predict what safety measures could possibly be loosened over a month out. I understand shows need guidance, but it makes sense to cancel an event that organizers do not want to run under current USEF rules. It may be that by May enough of the population will be vaccinated that USEF can allow 40% capacity spectatorship, or there may be a spike in cases and that isnât possible. I understand why Devon wanted to wait as long as possible, but also feel like uncertainty and last minute guidance is inevitable with everything going on.
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I thought the statement from the Devon organizers blamed USEF for something that was really not USEFâs fault. If the showâs operation depends on running a big country fair with thousands of spectators, it really isnât reasonable to go forward with any certainty in our current environment. I do think that events like this may be fine in a few months once more of the population gets vaccinated, but the issue was needing to know now about something that was not knowable with a ton of advance warningânot the national governing body being unreasonable.
Lots of horse shows are operating just fine under the current USEF guidance. It does seem that Devonâs business model is unusual. Itâs a huge bummer that the show wasnât able to adjust. But hopefully, the world will be far safer next year.
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I do not believe they can separate the horse show and fair, as it is incorporated Country Fair and the Horse Show (Inc). (horse show was first). The country fair faction is in charge.
If the fair was going to have restrictions about attendance etc, my guess is since it is tied together, the decision was to cancel both- even if the show could go on without the fair. Remember- it is a fundraiser for the hospital, not just a horse show. It is different than the DaD and Brandywine series that run on the grounds.
My total thinking, and I may be off, is the âladies on the boardâ (tongue and cheek, gentlemen as well) who are not horse people, do not care to let the show proceed without the fair.
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I agree. Devon needed information in a certain time frame in order to run. It was not going to be feasible for USEF to provide that information in that time frame. USEF said so. Devon then stated that without that information they could not run. It is what it is.
The unfortunate bit is the timing of the announcement after entries had already opened.
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