Sioux Falls, Pheasants Forever, and Quail Forever made a great impression on each other when Sioux Falls hosted those organizations’ big National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic trade show in 2018:
Pheasant Fest drew more than 28,000 people when it was held in Sioux Falls in 2018, making it one of the largest in the event’s 15-year history. That included its largest banquet ever, drawing 1,500 people.
The event, put on by the conservation-focused organizations Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, generated an estimated $3.8 million in economic impact for the Sioux Falls area.
The annual event wrapped up this past weekend in Minneapolis and drew a record crowd of more than 32,000 [Jodi Schwan, “Pheasant Fest Returning to Sioux Falls in 2021,” Sioux Falls Business, 2020.02.21].
When small-town Sioux Falls can put on a show almost as big as the same event held in the Twin Cities, that’s impressive.
But amidst the coronavirus pandemic, holding that same event in Sioux Falls or anywhere else is dangerous… so dangerous that Pheasants Forever announced this week that it is canceling the gathering that would have taken place at the Sanford Center in Sioux Falls on February 19–21, 2021:
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever today announced the difficult decision to cancel the nation’s largest gathering of upland hunters, the 2021 National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic, amid concerns for the safety and well-being of its members, chapters, partners, staff and general public within the ongoing pandemic.
“National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic is driven by the person-to-person interactions surrounding our partners, exhibitors, bird dogs, hunting heritage, youth, banquets and so much more,” said Howard Vincent, president and CEO of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. “Similarly, the organization’s habitat conservation mission over the long-term depends on keeping people healthy and engaged. We are simply not going to put our supporters in harm’s way. Instead, we will look forward to a remarkable 2022 National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic in Omaha” [Pheasants Forever, press release, retrieved 2020.12.04].
Organizers had already locked in plans to gather in Omaha in 2022 (convention centers get booked far in advance), so Sioux Falls will just have to wait until it comes up again in the rotation.
Canceling their annual trade show is an immense disappointment to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and to all of the vendors and southeast South Dakota hotels, restaurants, and bars that won’t get to shake down one more nice off-season surge of hunter-tourists. However, South Dakota and the nation will be better off if we follow Pheasants Forever’s and Quail Forever‘s good example and cancel all of our potential superspreader events this winter. These groups exemplify the logic I said this morning is sorely lacking among too many of our neighbors: reëvaluate our wants and needs, sacrifice some of the things we really want but can do without (Pheasants Forever says they are already planning an online event to substitute for some of the conservation-promotion activities they planned for Sioux Falls), and help everyone get out of this pandemic sooner so we can more surely and safely plan for bigger fun after we get our Dr. Fauci shots.
Doing the right thing isn’t that hard.
Doing the right thing is next to impossible when magats of the drumpfian persuasion claim their religious freedumbs and 2nd Amendment rights are being stolen by Democrats.
Of course, women of chid bearing ages and those older and younger need special guidance from phony right wing kristian god squad. Otherwise, everyone else is free of the shackles of gubmint regulations except for POC and voting rights. And the elderly, the poors, newborn babbies, immigrants, etc.
Of course they are doing good they aren’t called Peasants and Qs forever. That’s the trump group.