The Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) and all ancillary events like the BrewExpo America and the World Beer Cup have been the last victims of the COVID-19 pandemie and have been canceled, as the organizer, the Brewers Association (BA), said on the CBC’s website.
“America’s Largest Craft Brewing Industry Gathering” was originally scheduled to take place next month in San Antonio, Texas, and was expected to attract more than 13,000 attendees and more than 850 exhibitors.
“Given the developments over the past 24 hours, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America and World Beer Cup,” the BA announced. “It is heartbreaking to miss the annual gathering of our craft brewing community, but the safety and health of attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, staff, volunteers, and the craft brewing community at large is paramount to the Brewers Association.”
Full refunds of conference registration and booth fees, sponsor payments, and World Beer Cup competition entries will be given. The event will not be postponed until a later date or rescheduled as “meetings the size of CBC are planned years in advance, with coordination with cities large enough to accommodate thousands of people at once.” The next CBC will take place May 2-5, 2022 in Minneapolis, MN.
When asked by inside.beer on March 3, Ann Obenchain, Marketing Director at the BA already said that the organization “continues to closely monitor the developments of the COVID-19 outbreak and is in close and regular contact with the City of San Antonio.”
Now, the organization said that “it was our hope that time would be on our side and the situation would subside. However, developments over the past 24 hours have made hosting this year’s conference infeasible.”
The cancellation of the CBC and its ancillary events follows the situation with similar events around the world.
