Jehovah's Witnesses spokesperson Bradley Pramberg announcing the Medicine Hat convention on September 25, 2019 (Photo courtesy of Bob Schneider)

By Scott Roblin

Convention Cancelled

Jehovah’s Witnesses convention cancelled due to COVID-19

Apr 14, 2020 | 12:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It was billed as the largest convention in Medicine Hat’s history, but due to COVID-19 the upcoming gathering of Jehovah’s Witnesses will not be going ahead as planned.

Stakeholders in the community such as the City of Medicine Hat, Canalta Centre, and area hotels were notified of the decision last week from the Canadian chapter of Jehovah’s Witnesses that all regional conventions across the country this year have been cancelled.

In an official letter addressed to hotel management, director Rodney Jung told stakeholders that it was an inevitable decision.

“Governments across the country have put in place necessary restrictions to limit the size of gatherings and practice physical distancing in order to prevent the spread of the virus,” said Jung. “Based upon this we have made the difficult decision to cancel all our 2020 Regional Conventions in Canada.”

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For Mayor Ted Clugston, it’s disappointing but not unexpected news amid the rest of community events cancelled as a result of COVID-19.

“I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop on that one,” said Clugston. “It wouldn’t be 2020 if there wasn’t bad news just about every day. It’s not a surprise there at all, actually the only surprise was that it took this long to tell you the truth.”

It’s a major blow to the city’s hospitality industry who had been preparing to welcome thousands of worshippers to the community this summer.

HomeStay Inn & Suites manager Praveen Joshi said he had booked out every single room he had for the event, which will now sit empty.

“It’s not happening anymore, so that’s a big hit for the city of Medicine Hat,” said Joshi. “All the hotels were sold out because of that for three or four days. That’s not happening anymore, so that hurts too.”

The economic spin-off of the 4,000 to 5,000 visitors to Medicine Hat for the three-day convention was expected to bring in roughly $2.6 million to area business, restaurants, and hotels.

Speaking with local hotel owners leading up to the event, Clugston said they were gearing up for one of their most profitable weekends in years.

“We were actually, believe it or not, worried about a hotel shortage that weekend because there were a few other things that were supposed to be going on,” he said. “We were actually trying to help people find other accommodations because that weekend was going to be so busy. Of course now, you probably could shoot a cannon through just about any hotel that weekend now.”

For hotel managers like Joshi, that loss of revenue is expected to come with a major hit financially.

“Just my property for four days, I probably lost a good $30,000 or $40,000,” said Joshi.

Within days of the announcement, 85 percent of hotel rooms in Medicine Hat were booked for the event with most selling out in the weeks following.

“Every hotel in town was sold out, you name it any motel, any hotel room,” said Joshi. “So, that being pulled out is going to hurt big time for the hotel industry in Medicine Hat specifically.”

It’s a blow to the Canalta Centre as well, which is already sitting empty and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future with no events scheduled in the coming weeks.

Although they’ll be missing their crown jewel this summer, it’s something that senior staff understand given the current state of the world.

“They don’t have any other choice, they can’t do it in this environment,” said general manager Tammy Sweeney. “We’re just hoping that they come back next year or the year after that and add us to their roster of events.”

The Canalta Centre is coming off a 2019 that saw a number of high-profile events come to town such as the World U-17 Hockey Challenge, Sum 41 and The Offspring, and Rascal Flatts.

However according to Sweeney, losing both a Brad Paisley show and this convention moves the needle back.

“This was supposed to be the gateway event to larger, regional, western Canadian events of this magnitude because we haven’t hosted anything like that,” said Sweeney. “We purposefully sold this one with that in mind that, ‘We get this, we bang it really successfully, then we go after others.’ So, it just slows that trajectory down a little bit.”

The growing list of closures and cancellations has put a damper on what was shaping up to be an eventful summer in Medicine Hat, with the convention joining the postponement of the Medicine Hat WPCA chuckwagon tour stop this week.

Clugston said it’s tough to not fall into a negative mindset with all that is happening, but added he’s trying to stay positive of what’s on the horizon once the pandemic dies down.

“It couldn’t come at a worse time, but of course everything is coming at this terrible time,” said Clugston. “I keep looking at that meme that keeps coming up on my Facebook with Captain Picard saying ‘2020 Damage Report.’ That’s kind of what I think about every day when I come into the office is what’s the damage report?”

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the end of this year or 2021 is the best wedding season ever, the best convention season, the best concert season, all those things to catch up for all that we’ve lost.”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses convention was to have taken place from June 19 to 21.