That’s left some organizations with summer events in a difficult position: keep things as scheduled and hope for the best or see the writing on the wall and save the difficulties of a cancellation closer to the date.
The Moose Jaw Soap Box Derby has chosen to take the latter route and announced Monday they had cancelled the races for the 2020 season.
“We’ll have 100 people at our banquet the night before, so that kind of goes over the 10 people limit,” organizer Heather Carle said with a rueful laugh. “All the kids are upset because they don’t get to race this year, and Swift Current has cancelled theirs and Cabri has cancelled theirs. So we just have to wait and see.”
The Moose Jaw races were originally scheduled for Aug. 16 on their usual track set up on Alder Avenue. The event has seen steady popularity, with dozens of racers and hundreds of supporters and fans in and around the area. With Saskatchewan likely needing to be fully re-opened before that kind of gathering can happen, it would make any kind of planning a potentially futile endeavour and any kind of rescheduling just as difficult.
“Because we have to do so much reserving the street and letting the residents in the area know and stuff,” Carle explained. “We’re hoping to maybe get a race together for interested people in the fall if we can, but if not, it’ll be next year… We can’t even do a ‘come see it and check it out’ to get new racers, because that isn’t allowed either.”
Naturally, with the cancellation comes disappointment, as some competitors may not have a chance to ride again.
“For some kids, this may be the last year they’re going to be able to fit in the car, so they won’t be able to race next year and you lose all them getting their friends and family members watching and getting interested in it,” Carle said, adding that her nieces – one in her second race, one just making the transition to senior cars – are among the affected.
“It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing you can do when all this is happening.”
If there is a silver lining, it’s that things might be even better when the races resume in August 2021.
“We’re trying to get new timers now and everything like that, since the one we had has finally given up the ghost after 30 years,” Carle said. “So that’ll be nice to have when we do come back.”
