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Two major events cancelled due to pandemic

By CHUCK BALLARO 3 min read

news@breezenewspapers.com

The annual Fort Myers RV show and the Fort Myers PRCA Rodeo are two of the biggest events in North Fort Myers.

Unfortunately, the public will have to wait until 2022 to see them again, as this past week it was announced that both have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 36th annual Fort Myers RV show, which was scheduled to run from Thursday through Sunday, brought more than 12,000 people to the Lee Civic Center last year. with 13 dealers and more than 100 vendor booths.

However, COVID had an indirect impact on them, according to RV News, a website dedicated to the RV industry, as many dealers reported inventories that were too low to be able to bring their models and other products to Fort Myers. This was caused to manufacturer supply chain problems, according to the Florida RV Trade Association, FRVTA.

Despite the pandemic, sales have remained strong at the local and national levels, the industry has reported.

Jack Carver, FRVTA Region 1 show manager said, “The industry is in a huge sales boom because of COVID. The virus has also affected manufacturers. They closed down last year for as couple months when the economy shut down and never caught up on their distribution levels. Some RVs don’t have a microwave or are missing a circuit or stove because of supply chain problems, so RVs aren’t being stocked as quickly as needed, so local dealers don’t have a supply to do a show.”

The show is expected to return to the civic center this time next year.

The Lee County Posse Arena will be without its biggest event of the year, the PRCA Fort Myers Rodeo, which was scheduled for the third weekend of February.

Last year’s rodeo brought three sellout crowds to North Fort Myers. However, according to Margo Crowther, concerns about COVID has crippled the entire rodeo industry.

“Because of COVID, we can’t take the risk. We’ll take a break this year and come back in 2022,” Crowther said, adding that the rodeo’s committee made the decision. “There’s also a risk of having the rodeo and having a half-filled arena. We really need to pack the arena every day to make ends meet, and this year it as a little too risky.”

Crowther said there are hopes to do a rodeo in the fall as well as one in the winter. She said it depends on what the spring brings.

“We want to see what happens with COVID and perhaps do a rodeo in October or November,” Crowther said. “That would be ideal.”