# COVID-19 Event Cancellations



## What Rigger? (Mar 6, 2020)

SXSW just cancelled the whole thing withing the last half hour or so. 




__





MSN




www.msn.com


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## dvsDave (Mar 6, 2020)

What Rigger? said:


> SXSW just cancelled the whole thing withing the last half hour or so.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



To be fair to SXSW, the City of Austin basically told them they had to.


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## What Rigger? (Mar 6, 2020)

dvsDave said:


> To be fair to SXSW, the City of Austin basically told them they had to.


But this means we don't know when the 4K remaster of "Rad" will see the light of day! Priorities, man!


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## Footer (Mar 7, 2020)

First case's in upstate NY is in my county.... so thats fun. We've already lost 3 events.


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## dvsDave (Mar 7, 2020)

Footer said:


> First case's in upstate NY is in my county.... so thats fun. We've already lost 3 events.


Just had a case announced in our county, at the military base on the other side of the county, like 45 minutes away


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## StradivariusBone (Mar 12, 2020)

I'm seeing a ton of freelancers in the industry rightfully freaking out about lost income from show/event cancellations. Is there any group organizing any sort of relief for these guys/gals? I'm a HS TD and we're just starting to get wind of the possibility of cancellations here. I saw in CA they are banning gatherings of 250+ and in about 4 weeks that will be all we do with our public shows, concerts, band/chorus/orch, graduations. I just was about to make a big lumber purchase for our spring musical build and I'm holding off since I don't know if they'll cancel it on us. It's wild, but I know I'll still get paid either way, but if there's a way to donate to help people that are in limbo I'd like to get behind it, even if it's a little.

And definitely don't ban Bill for his opinion LOL That was my opinion 100% until my wife yelled at me and explained all the stuff that Dave was talking about. I do agree the media loves a good scare story, but this thing also looks pretty rough. @RonHebbard I hope your trips to the hospital are boring and uneventful! My dad who is in his 70's is shutting in and riding it out. I'm keeping myself and my 8 year old germ factory away for the time being.


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## dvsDave (Mar 12, 2020)

Moving notices about event cancellations here.


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## TimMc (Mar 12, 2020)

Houston Rodeo and concerts cancelled. That's gonna hurt several Houston-area production companies and a huge number of vendors.


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## dvsDave (Mar 12, 2020)

Our church meets at a middle school on Sunday mornings. The school system just shut down till March 20th. Working on contingency plans. Short term we can worship with a sister church nearby, but that won't work for the entire church body. I will probably end up shooting video of the sermon on Saturdays to post up on Sunday. It's gonna be an interesting time!


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## josh88 (Mar 12, 2020)

Our health department just shut us, the other large venue and the arena in our city down for as long as 60 days, we're waiting on statements/mandate from the governor in about 10 minutes to see what the state response is going to be, but sources are saying that Ohio is about to get shut down.

We've lost 1 broadway tour, a symphony week, an opera week, a high school musical and a high school dance show along with 4 traveling kids shows which will impact our sales next year because we'll have to offer these cancelled students vouchers for other shows.


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## StradivariusBone (Mar 12, 2020)

dvsDave said:


> I will probably end up shooting video of the sermon on Saturdays to post up on Sunday. It's gonna be an interesting time!



I just had a chat with my boss at my church. We are looking into livestreaming. I know some people turn their noses up at churches particularly finances, but a cancellation of a service constitutes a significant loss of income. Kind of by random chance we have been digging into setting up streaming potential and he just so happened to have rented a few cameras for us to try out so we're actually kind of set. 

I have experience running YouTube livestreams for a backstage feed for our big music concert back in December here at work, so I'm hoping it won't be that different.


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## Van (Mar 12, 2020)

Governor of Oregon Shut down all gatherings of more than 250 people for the foreseeable future. Mayor of Portland just declared a citywide emergency. 

I heard Barkley on CNN this morning advocating for shutting down March Madness all together, not just eliminating audiences.


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## MNicolai (Mar 12, 2020)

Van said:


> I heard Barkley on CNN this morning advocating for shutting down March Madness all together, not just eliminating audiences.



The players are a commodity and to be protected. Can't do that if they're on the court. Also a bit of a problem if you have to pay them to play but don't get any revenue at all from the arena.

But seriously, how did the Utah Jazz get their hands on 58 tests. That's 0.7% of all COVID19 tests done in the United States.


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## Van (Mar 12, 2020)

MNicolai said:


> The players are a commodity and to be protected. Can't do that if they're on the court. Also a bit of a problem if you have to pay them to play but don't get any revenue at all from the arena.
> 
> But seriously, how did the Utah Jazz get their hands on 58 tests. That's 0.7% of all COVID19 tests done in the United States.


Right, 
The NBA suspended the rest of the season. So far the NCAA has only cancelled all fans for the March Madness games.


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## MNicolai (Mar 12, 2020)

EDIT:

Correction. All Broadway theaters shut down until April 13. Effective 5pm tonight.


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## Catherder (Mar 12, 2020)

Van said:


> Governor of Oregon Shut down all gatherings of more than 250 people for the foreseeable future. Mayor of Portland just declared a citywide emergency.



My wife and my 7 year old daughter were going to Frozen on Saturday at the Keller - would have been her first professional theater experience. She's going to be so bummed when we tell her it's off. She even got new earrings and an Elsa cape 

The school district in Portland also canceled all non-classroom activities for at least 30 days - which is most if not all of the school productions around here.

EDIT: And, even though our play isn't until mid-May, all our rehearsals and tech are also on hold until further notice. We thought we might be able to keep going with limited parents since the kids are in school together all day anyway, but no dice. Not as big an impact as most of these closures, for sure, but for the kids this is a big time bummer.


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## MRW Lights (Mar 12, 2020)

Well Folks.... Broadway bows out for a month too.... https://nypost.com/2020/03/12/broadway-shutting-down-all-productions-over-coronavirus-pandemic/


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## MNicolai (Mar 12, 2020)

Interestingly, Gov. Cuomo imposed limitations. The theaters decided to close down entirely, possibly from lobbying by Equity.








Broadway shutting down all productions over coronavirus pandemic

Broadway will shut down four to six weeks beginning tonight, due to the coronavirus outbreak, several sources told The Post.



nypost.com






> A spokesman for “Sing Street” said, “Nothing has been decided yet, in terms of when Broadway reopens.”
> 
> Actors’ Equity has been pushing for the shutdown as the union’s members are concerned about contracting the virus. “Equity is driving this,” said a producer. “If actors don’t feel safe, they don’t have to perform.”
> 
> Along with Broadway going dark, classic music fans will be shut out, too, as the New York Philharmonic announced today that it has canceled all of its concerts immediately and through March 31. “As always, the safety and security of our guests, musicians and employees is a priority,” the organization stated.


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## dvsDave (Mar 12, 2020)

MLB has suspended Spring Training games and pushed the start of the season back 2 weeks.








Opening Day delayed; Spring games canceled

Major League Baseball has cancelled the remainder of its Spring Training games, also announcing that the start of the 2020 regular season will be delayed by at least two weeks due to the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was announced following a call with all 30



www.mlb.com


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## Van (Mar 12, 2020)

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon has cancelled shows for the next 4 weeks.


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## Amiers (Mar 12, 2020)

NHL cancelled all games for the rest of the year. 

Phoenix Freelance groups as well as a few others I’m in on FB are filled with cancelled gigs. 

We pretty much came to a halt here in our shop. Lost all of March gigs except a few at the convention center. I can’t name the gigs but we’re attached to a lot of big ones. 

We still have our jobs in the shop for now. But I’m just waiting for the meeting especially if we lose April.


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## Ben Stiegler (Mar 12, 2020)

SF Symphony, Ballet, and large private houses (Hamilton, etc.) as well as concert venues around the Bay Area - all x'd. We're a week away from opening a HS production of Into The Woods that may be cancelled, or shifted to live stream. My klezmer/jaxx fusion ensemble's annual festival just got axed. Most colleges are closing down to shift to distance learning. All 80 parochial schools in the Bay Area. MLB. We could test the disk space limits of CBooth by posting cancellations. 

Wishing everyone luck and patience in getting thru this. I know its particularly hard on our freelance community (both techies and performers). Maybe its time to dig up the buried kruggerands in our neighbor's back yards. Ron - can I borrow your metal detector, please? (and please get well, my friend!)


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## RonHebbard (Mar 12, 2020)

Van said:


> The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon has cancelled shows for the next 4 weeks.


Maybe the world has ended and I didn't get the memo?  Thank GOODNESS, DVS, Control Booth, and the internet are still here, for the nonce.
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Amiers (Mar 13, 2020)

Well it happened. Job cancelled. Back to feeelancing I try to go.


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## SteveB (Mar 13, 2020)

Steiner and Silvercup film studios in NYC closed. My wife is on ”The Gilded Age”, filming at Gold Coast Studios on Long Island, just texted me they are shutdown as of today, 4-6 weeks. 200 people on her movie alone.


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## RonHebbard (Mar 13, 2020)

Amiers said:


> Well it happened. Job (I guess Job ran out of patience.) cancelled. Back to freelancing I try to go.


 *@Amiers* Fortunately both Heaven and Hades remain open although I've heard a rumor Purgatory's experiencing a 1 to 2 week backlog. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Amiers (Mar 13, 2020)

Well let’s hope neither take me.


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## TimMc (Mar 13, 2020)

Around lunch time today, my county instituted a ban on assembly greater than 250 persons, but my gig was just over the county line and we were safe for today... and as we got ready to soundcheck the act, the sponsor/promoter and artist agreed the show would not happen. Then the PAC and convention gigs evaporated... all my stagehand work and 80% of my production shop's business is cancelled or postponed until August or September. Poof! in less than 24 hours. After a 4 hour truck loading call tomorrow, I'm unemployed for at least 2 weeks, likely a month or more. This is gonna suck. How bad remains to be seen. I'm on the "at risk" spectrum due to my age, too.


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## MNicolai (Mar 13, 2020)

I think at this point most of the entertainment/hospitality business worldwide is unemployed for the foreseeable future. Not the kind of economic gaps you can fill in with a couple GoFundMe's.


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## Ben Stiegler (Mar 13, 2020)

I wonder if there's an upswing in contract positions for sanitizing facilities? Perhaps either thru labor brokers, or maybe some forward thinking unions could negotiate these addl tasks during this crisis.

It wouldn't be using our normal skills and artistry, but it might put food on the table and make a needed contribution.


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## SteveB (Mar 13, 2020)

It’s bizarre and not reassuring that some locations have determined that 500 people in a venue is the threshold. Other states say 250. Meanwhile college classrooms of 20 are banned. I understand they are not wanting to close down everything, but really we just need to accept that any gathering is a risk, even if it’s a birthday party. So the sooner you stop people gathering and spreading this virus, the fewer contract it. The US as a country is just waiting too long and unable to test in the numbers required to get people isolated. My take is it’s going to be worse here then many countries that were more proactive and earlier.


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## Footer (Mar 14, 2020)

SteveB said:


> It’s bizarre and not reassuring that some locations have determined that 500 people in a venue is the threshold. Other states say 250. Meanwhile college classrooms of 20 are banned. I understand they are not wanting to close down everything, but really we just need to accept that any gathering is a risk, even if it’s a birthday party. So the sooner you stop people gathering and spreading this virus, the fewer contract it. The US as a country is just waiting too long and unable to test in the numbers required to get people isolated. My take is it’s going to be worse here then many countries that were more proactive and earlier.



Ya, I don't get the requirements either. A lot of small community theatres are still operating up here. Both our venues are closed because with both the capacity restrictions (you can only sell half your seats) and the 500 max that pretty much makes any profitability of a show off the table. With that, we are re-booking shows that can re-book into may. Pretty much writing off April. I bet we have to bump things again. This is going to be a total mess up here. We have 5 cases in the Capital district... 1 at U Albany. The entertainment industry is going to take a major major hit here. My 6 crew heads will all hit unemployment on Monday as will every other NYS stagehand.


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## TimMc (Mar 14, 2020)

"At first, the cancellations came in a trickle.

A performance of the Mozart Requiem in Washington, D.C., Bach's St. Matthew Passion in Seattle. Local jazz nights in New York City.

Then, almost at once, it seemed like the entire March calendars of musicians across the country were wiped clean. Within hours Wednesday, thousands of dollars in expected income vanished.

"My schedule for the next few months has been completely decimated," said Seth Kibel, a woodwind player in the D.C. area who plays at swing dances and retirement homes — which he says were the first gigs to go."

Full article at the link above.


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## Jay Ashworth (Mar 14, 2020)

"Hundreds of millions of dollars" -- Broadway.

[ Ok, ok, yes, I get it; it's framed in the view of individual gig performers; wasn't minimizing that. ]


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## TimMc (Mar 14, 2020)

Jay Ashworth said:


> "Hundreds of millions of dollars" -- Broadway.
> 
> [ Ok, ok, yes, I get it; it's framed in the view of individual gig performers; wasn't minimizing that. ]


Musical theater touring is a roughly $1.4b/annual industry by itself. TV and film production inject $48b into *local economies*. Concert touring is $16b. Almost 100% of the workers are "gig economy" workers.

But the impact is on those who make $50 a show, too. Playing for the old folks home, paid church soloists, pretty much anyone in the performing arts or live entertainment at the local/regional level. Little foot traffic, can't even busk.

Covid-19 is havoc (in both biology and money) for anyone whose income is derived from amusing the masses.


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## Adam Brunetti (Mar 14, 2020)

Feld has postponed almost all productions. We're on an entirely case-by-case and day-by-day basic right now. I'm lucky I already had about 2 months of the show off.


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## SteveB (Mar 14, 2020)

110,000 people work in the film, TV, theater, music businesses in the NYC area alone. Most ?, many out of work currently. L.A. is around 125,000 or so ?, Gotta wonder if the state(s) unemployment account can handle that many ?


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## sk8rsdad (Mar 14, 2020)

I expect the central banks will just print money to maintain liquidity in the system. The US government is already operating with a trillion dollar deficit so what's another few billion to prop up the unemployment account.


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## Jay Ashworth (Mar 14, 2020)

And if anyone needed confirmation that they called it right?

Read this thread from Twitter:


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## Crisp image (Mar 14, 2020)

Well in here in Australia (200 cases) we have had some major events canclled. We have just got home from Melbourne where we saw Come From Away (was closing on Saturday but now today Sunday), Shrek (I have not seen an announcement yet) and Billy Elliot (again no announcement) 
I had a shift cancelled for a pre rig but I think that is unrelated because they have changed the lighting sched to fit our standard plot.
I am ok with work because my main job is in aged care and not in tech but I do feel for those who rely on tech for their bread and butter income.
Thinking of all who are out of work because of this virus.

Regards
Geoff


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## BillConnerFASTC (Mar 15, 2020)

Well, organizers are insisting they are not canceling the UFO festival in Roswell NM. I wonder if they will be testing overseas and other world participants.


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## JohnD (Mar 15, 2020)

BillConnerFASTC said:


> Well, organizers are insisting they are not canceling the UFO festival in Roswell NM. I wonder if they will be testing overseas and other world participants.


Why does that make me think of this:


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## BillConnerFASTC (Mar 15, 2020)

An Andromeda Strain solution...


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## What Rigger? (Mar 15, 2020)

SteveB said:


> 110,000 people work in the film, TV, theater, music businesses in the NYC area alone. Most ?, many out of work currently. L.A. is around 125,000 or so ?, Gotta wonder if the state(s) unemployment account can handle that many ?


California is waving the one week waiting period to file for unemplaoyment, and are being very clear that you can file if your job is affected by the pandemic.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Mar 15, 2020)

Spending several days in Illinois this week and they just closed the restaurants and bars.


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## sk8rsdad (Mar 15, 2020)

We just went to plaid. 

We had to cancel our shows on Friday. Now we have to cancel the board meeting about what to do about cancelling our shows. Good thing I work for a telecom company. Time to set up a conference call.


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## MNicolai (Mar 15, 2020)

New CDC guidelines are avoid gatherings of more than 50 people for the next 8 weeks.

At the current pace of revised guidelines, I wouldn't be surprised to see that lock down even further over the next 2 weeks as the full scope of the virus in the United States becomes more clear.


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## sk8rsdad (Mar 15, 2020)

Start thinking about months. There won’t be any easing of restrictions until there is a downward trend in reported cases. It will be some time after that before public confidence is restored and likely longer before people consider spending their money on entertainment.

My community theatre is hoping for the best but planning as though we are losing the rest of the season.

In an effort to make lemonade out of this mess, we are contemplating capital projects and shovel-ready major renovations because one positive outcome may be government infrastructure funding and related stimulus packages. Prices and currency exchange rates may become favorable too.


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## TimMc (Mar 16, 2020)

My home county went to a 50 person gathering limit about a half hour ago. I just filed for unemployment for the first time in 30 years.


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## JohnD (Mar 16, 2020)

TimMc said:


> My home county went to a 50 person gathering limit about a half hour ago. I just filed for unemployment for the first time in 30 years.


With all the people having their jobs quitting on them, I wonder about how the unemployment offices are handling the possible loooooooog lines, do they have a 50 person cap??????


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## Dionysus (Mar 16, 2020)

I've just been laid off, waiting on the other job who said they have SOME work for me to come but not sure how much and when. Otherwise generally, yup no work.
Seasons here have all been canceled except for a few outliers in both community and professional theatre. 

Stratford (my OTHER local big boys) I've heard while they have officially cancelled until May sometime are prepairing to cancel their entire season. That is tragic, but like all of us, this is going to be a LONG time until the entertainment industry can get rolling again.

I'm really worried about myself, my fellow arts workers, and our employers.


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## mrtrudeau23 (Mar 16, 2020)

The university made the call that "all employees in non-essential positions" (security, custodial, facilities, etc) are to work from home starting today. The staff and I were in this morning shutting down the shops and theaters and locking things away. We're all trying to work out how to work from home when all our jobs are, are building shows and maintaining the spaces. Thinking lots of online trainings and tutorials. Anybody have any skills that can be learned online? Or just fun things relating to our industry in an online setting? Already have Vectorworks and Eos videos on my list.
Thankful that they haven't furloughed or laid anyone off yet, and I hope it doesn't come to that. One nice thing about being home is my dog will love me being around more!


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## TimMc (Mar 16, 2020)

JohnD said:


> With all the people having their jobs quitting on them, I wonder about how the unemployment offices are handling the possible loooooooog lines, do they have a 50 person cap??????


 It's all on line now, or phone-in for those without an internet connection.


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## FMEng (Mar 16, 2020)

50 persons max is now the law in the State of Washington. Restaurant dining is now illegal, but they are allowed to sell take-out. All schools are closed for 30 days.


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## StradivariusBone (Mar 17, 2020)

I don't know if this will help anyone but every church I have a contact with is going 100% toward online streaming. My boss at the church I moonlight at actually just got "promoted" to a tech position within the church council or conference or whatever because he has a great deal of experience with setting up streaming systems. It seems the only thing moving faster than toilet paper is anything made by Blackmagic at the moment. You all hunting for work might want to inquire at your local houses of worship, the bigger ones will probably have staff, but the smaller ones might offer some contract work if you can assist them in getting live online.


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## TimMc (Mar 17, 2020)

You know it's bad when the State shuts off its in-person money machines: https://www.kslottery.com/media/250...ces-suspension-of-state-casino-operations.pdf


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## BillConnerFASTC (Mar 17, 2020)

I was at an Ikea (Ottawa Canada maybe be of interest to some here) and they removed the iconic blue and yellow shopping bags.


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## avkid (Mar 17, 2020)

BillConnerFASTC said:


> I was at an Ikea (Ottawa Canada maybe be of interest to some here) and they removed the iconic blue and yellow shopping bags.


Whoa!


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## sk8rsdad (Mar 17, 2020)

BillConnerFASTC said:


> I was at an Ikea (Ottawa Canada maybe be of interest to some here) and they removed the iconic blue and yellow shopping bags.


So 5km from my place and you didn’t drop in to say “hi”? I’m pouting!

I am pretty sure the lack of plastic bags has more to do with a ban on single-use plastics. Most stores are switching back to paper.


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## JohnD (Mar 18, 2020)

This one is entertainment related, for musicians in Oklahoma:
Red Dirt Relief


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## BillConnerFASTC (Mar 18, 2020)

OK. I will plan a visit next trip. I'll pm before next trip.

I only know what store employee told me. There were some around - covering kiosks.


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## TimMc (Mar 18, 2020)

And today the Kansas Governor announced she is ordering all public K-12 schools to cancel on-campus classes and activities for the remainder of the school year.








Coronavirus: U.S. Navy Hospital Ships To Deploy To New York, West Coast

The pair of ships, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy, will help local medical workers grapple with an influx of patients. But it remains unclear precisely when they will be ready to go.



www.npr.org





Along with a prohibition on residential and commercial evictions for at least 30 days:








Kansas temporarily bars evictions, foreclosures

The move is an effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.



www.kwch.com





edit PS- Kansas is screwed for a long time. Our major industry is aviation/aerospace manufacturing (Textron Aviation - Cessna, Citation Jet, Bell Helicopter, Hawker-Beechcraft); Bombardier Learjet, Spirit Aerosystems (sub-assemblies for Boeing, Airbus, other manufacturers), Airbus (engineering) and Boeing (military contract administration). A big chunk of the 737 MAXX is built by Spirit... adding Covid-19 to this, we're looking at years of recovery, not months.


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## Joe Moore (Mar 18, 2020)

In St. Louis public gatherings are copped at 50. This effectively cancelled all productions. They are talking about dropping the cap to 10. All restaurants are carry out, drive through or delivery only. The Catholic Archdiocese has cancelled all masses. This is real.


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## Adam Brunetti (Mar 23, 2020)

So an update on the Feld situation, as of Friday at 9:30am, 1700 of us were laid off across all properties. Only 2 people (the VPs) remain for Monster Jam. We were given about 30 minutes notice- 9am email from Kenneth Feld saying that there would be some company-wide layoffs to reduce the workforce, and that we would be hearing from our supervisors with details that pertain to us. About half an hour later our supervisors were let go, and our notification that we were laid off was our accounts being locked. Half of my colleagues on the production management side found out they lost their jobs when the news articles started going up on Facebook.


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