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Peoria Farm Show reset for March 2021

By Martha Blum

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

PEORIA, Ill. — The 39th annual Greater Peoria Farm Show has been rescheduled for March 9-11, 2021.

“We are rescheduling the show because of the local area restrictions due to the COVID-19 vi-rus concerns,” said John Riles, president of Midwest Shows.

“It doesn’t look like the restrictions are going to be lifted in time for our show in December,” Riles said. The farm show was originally scheduled for Dec. 1-3.

Rescheduling is better than canceling, Riles said, about the show that will be held at the Peoria Civic Center.

“Now we have an opportunity to explore a show at a different time of the year for this area,” he said. “We do other shows in the spring that work well because we generally don’t have a problem in early spring that impacts shows.”

Agricultural equipment and service companies will be exhibiting at the show.

“We expect the number of exhibitors to be from the upper 200s to lower 300s for a show in Peoria,” Riles said.

Educational seminars will be held during the three-day event.

“This is a nice opportunity to expand the agenda of the seminars and speakers,” Riles said. “The topics might be more timely in March than late fall, and we always like to have a speakers related to the weather and the commodity markets.”

Along with the agricultural community, Riles said, the farm show is also important to the Peoria community.

“We’re happy when the people in the community rally around changes like this,” Riles said. “Peoria is eager to make this show work in March.”

“It could be a great time to hold a show in Peoria,” he said. “I’d love to see it work as great in March as it does in December.”

The organizers for the Midwest Ag Expo are also proceeding with their plans to host a farm show on Jan. 27-28, 2021, at Gordyville USA, near Gifford in Champaign County.

“We will make a definite decision whether to have a show or not by the end of November,” said Gary Manke, president and CEO of the Midwest-SouthEastern Equipment Dealers Association. “That will be about 60 days prior to the start of the show.”

If the in-person show is canceled, Manke said, there will not be a virtual show.

“We’ll try our best to have a show, but we’ll error on the side of caution,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

Hours for the Peoria Farm Show will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday.

For more information about the Greater Peoria Farm Show, go to www.greaterpeoriafarmshow.com.

Martha Blum can be reached at 815-223-2558, ext. 117, or marthablum@agrinews-pubs. com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Blum.

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Quad Cities show victim of COVID-19

Farm equipment event canceled

By Martha Blum

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — The Quad Cities Farm Equipment Show is canceled for 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The QCCA Expo Center building is still closed, and we don’t know when the state will open it,” said Dick Sherman, managing director of the Quad Cities Farm Equipment Show. “And when the building is open, we don’t know if there will be restrictions.”

Canceling the show, which was set for Jan. 17-19, was not an easy decision for Sherman.

“I started this show almost 30 years ago, and I didn’t want to cancel it,” he said. “But I don’t want to be responsible for people getting sick. That didn’t make any sense to me.”

When the virus became a major problem in March, Sherman said, he didn’t consider canceling a January show, but only about half of the typical number of exhibitors had planned to participate in the 2021 show by the middle of September.

“It surprised me how many of the exhibitors did not respond,” Sherman said.

“Canceling the 2021 show is like giving up a little piece of yourself,” he said. “But because of the virus we didn’t want to ask people to put themselves at risk for a farm show.”

Sherman comes from a family that organized boat and sports shows and got involved with farm shows about 39 years ago when he started a farm show in Indianapolis.

“I was speaking with the manager of the building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and he said I should look at running indoor farm shows because ag companies don’t want to spend 10 to 14 days at a fair,” Sherman recalled. “These companies want to go to a trade show where only their customers are coming.”

That made sense to Sherman.

“I took a map and looked where there were good buildings in the farming area,” he said. “I went to Indianapolis and told them I want to rent the building for a farm show, and they thought I was crazy.”

Ten years after starting the farm show in Indiana, Sherman decided to add a show.

“I took the map again and looked at the Quad Cities and thought it would be a perfect location for a show,” he said.

“There will be a show in January 2022,” Sherman said. “We’re just not doing it for a year.”

Martha Blum can be reached at 815-223-2558, ext. 117, or marthablum@agrinews-pubs. com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Blum.

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