We hope that you and your families are well and looking after yourselvesduring these extraordinary times and our thoughts in particular are with themany Victorians that continue to face significant daily challenges during ournew lockdown.
As you know, the global events industry has been crippled as a result of theGovernment restrictions being imposed due to COVID-19.
Whilst other states in Australia are now starting to re-open, the currentoutbreak in Victoria has hit Melbourne based events the hardest.
A number of the largest and most successful shows in Australia that are ownedby the world’s leading organisers have been forced to postpone their events tolater next year.
Over the last few months, we have worked hard to keep the heartbeat of thebusiness alive to ensure we are stronger on the other side of this and ourdigital campaigns have been a great success for many Exhibitors and Sponsors.
Until recently we were still in a strong position to successfully deliver theMelbourne Dog Lovers Show this November, however the current local outbreakhas substantially changed the situation.
It is therefore with great sadness that we need to report that MuseumsVictoria, which manage the Royal Exhibition Building, has now formally advisedus that it will no longer permit our Melbourne Dog Lovers Show to be stagedthis November as their venue will be closed for major festivals like ours.
Unfortunately there continues to be no clear certainty around whether largescale events will be able to return in Victoria this year and with the venueclosed we have no other choice but to reschedule the 2020 Melbourne Dog LoversShow to 2021.
The new dates for the next Melbourne Dog Lovers Show will now be fromFriday 22 to Sunday 24 October, 2021.
It has taken some time to secure this alternative date with venue management,but we are absolutely delighted to be able to run the Show in late October aswe believe it is ideal timing. The weather is warmer which supports ourextensive outdoor attractions and on this weekend we do not compete withpublic or school holidays, the AFL, Spring Racing Carnival or any other majorevents in Melbourne.
Many Exhibitors will also be relieved that we have moved away from the lastweekend in November as this was too close to their busy Christmas retailperiod and put many businesses under substantial pressure.
The Melbourne Cat and Sydney Dog Lovers Show dates will remain the same(below) and we are confident that there will be no further changes to theseevents:
- Melbourne Cat Lovers Show: Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May, 2021
- Sydney Dog Lovers Show: Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 August, 2021
We are aware that many businesses rely on the sales and awareness generatedfrom the Melbourne Dog Lovers Show each year and like us will be bitterlydisappointed with this outcome, however we trust you can understand that thisdecision was taken out of our hands and we had no other choice.
All stand bookings and payments made for the rescheduled 2020 Melbourne DogLovers Show will be automatically transferred to the 2021 show in October asper your agreement and all stand locations will remain the same.
In the meantime, we are happy to continue to actively promote all ourMelbourne Exhibitors and Sponsors free of charge across our extensive digital,database and social media channels to thank you for your ongoing support as weknow this situation is far from ideal. More information regarding thesemarketing opportunities will be provided shortly.
We have no doubt that dog lovers will return to this much-loved Melbournefestival in record numbers next year as we are all eager to celebrate our bestfriends, especially given how much their unconditional love continues to helpget us through this difficult period.
Plus with breeders and adoption shelters struggling to cope with demand (oneof the very few positives of this global pandemic!) there are so many new dogowners out there that will want to attend the happiest and hairiest event inAustralia for the first time too!
Given the rescheduling, the majority of our Dog Lovers Show team is taking abreak until early October and all active staff will be working from home, sothe office will be temporarily closed until this time. No doubt many of youwill still have questions regarding this decision and we are conscious that itmay impact some businesses more than others.
We kindly request that you initially send any queries to us in writing viaemail to [email protected] so we can effectively manage the enquiries and wewill endeavour to respond to everyone as soon as we can.
It has been an extremely difficult and uncertain time for our team, ourbusiness and the entire event sector, so we would greatly appreciate yourpatience and kindness as we navigate our way through this as best we can.
We are truly grateful for all the support and understanding that so many ofyou have provided over the last few months, so a big thanks from our entireteam.
The Dog Lovers Show crew
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