The Smithers District Chamber of Commerce has announced that the Northwest Trade Expo has been postponed for another year.
According to Chamber Manager Sheena Miller, at the height of the Omicron variant the board decided to cancel the show for 2022.
The Northwest Trade Expo is normally held in May and features chamber members and exhibitors from hot tubs to personal hygiene products.
Miller said the reaction to hosting the show was a mixed bag.
“We have chamber members and exhibitors that would be hesitant to join just because we are somewhat still in COVID and we’re not quite in pandemic recovery yet so, there are valid concerns around the safety of bringing a large group of people together but, on the other hand we had chamber members that were really excited,” she said.
Miller added the chamber has talked about doing a similar event but a scaled back version.
She also said that having the event postponed is somewhat of a silver lining.
“It gives us a little bit more time to come up with some creative strategies to make it really relevant, innovative and exciting for next year,” Miller said.
She added that the chamber is excited to start planning the show again.
The last trade show that took place was in May 2019.