Killing Ourselves to Fish
Posted by Pete Robbins on Aug 31st 2021
Earlier this year, the motto of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s (AFFTA) International Fly Tackle Dealer Show (IFTD), scheduled for October 20 to 22 in Salt Lake City, was “Face to face in one place.”
On Tuesday they canceled it, due to ongoing concerns with COVID.
I feel bad for them. I know firsthand how important these yearly get-togethers are for morale and camaraderie and commerce, whether it be ICAST or the Bassmaster Classic or your local bass club’s awards banquet. I know that some people are going to suffer because it had to be postponed. At the same time, it just feels like the right decision, and I say that because viewed from a thousand miles away, the decision to hold ICAST in Orlando in July seems to have been a terrible decision.
Now, I know that people were thrilled to be there (“It was good to all be together again,” I read more than once). I also know that hindsight is 20/20, and even with the benefit of that hindsight, some may still disagree with me. I know of more than a dozen people who contracted COVID in Orlando. They include tour pros, industry insiders, and members of the media. Some had mild cases, some had severe cases, which includes ongoing breathing problems and brain fog. Some were vaccinated, some were not. Again, I have the benefit of hindsight, but holding a show in a state that was/is a hotbed of the virus, with a group of people who at least anecdotally are more likely than not to be unvaccinated, seems unwise.
That’s compounded by the fact that the industry seems to be doing quite well. Products are flying off the shelves, assuming that they make it to shelves at all. If the industry was struggling, I’m not saying that changes my calculus, but at the very least I would better understand the motivations of those in attendance. I’m sure that no one wanted anyone else to get sick, and certainly there were no mandates to attend, but it’s the “Field of Dreams” rationale: If you hold it, they will come.
I just hope that by this time next year trade shows, should they be deemed necessary, will be flourishing. Ultimately, the goal should be not to have one great event, but many more, and sometimes that means the show must not go on.
