BROKEN BOW— The coronavirus pandemic has claimed another event for 2020 as the Broken Bow Chamber Board voted to cancel this year’s steak fries for the men and women. On Wednesday, August 26 the volunteer board voted to cancel the event citing concerns that the number of attendees would be extremely low due to members not wanting to gather during the pandemic.
“It was clearly not an easy decision for the board,” said Chamber Executive Director Deb Kennedy. “This is an annual event that we look forward to put on every year, but with COVID-19 still prevalent in our area, the board felt it was in the best interest for everyone to cancel both steak fries.”
Kennedy said in 2019, the men’s and women’s steak fries drew over 200 attendees combined for a night of social gathering between chamber businesses. However, with social gatherings not recommended, businesses were reluctant to purchase tickets for staff to attend the events.
“The concerns of businesses are absolutely warranted. We have a large number of small businesses in Broken Bow that would most likely have to shut down if someone in the store contracted COVID-19. After coming off of a few months where they were shut down from the Directed Health Measures, there are businesses that cannot afford to shut down for any length of time,” Kennedy said.
While the cancelation of the events is disappointing to the Broken Bow Chamber, ideas are circulating to revisit the steak idea in October with the fall season in mind.
“We have to look forward and get creative. We are not the only event that has been canceled this year and we certainly won’t be the last,” said Kennedy “We threw around some really fun ideas during the meeting with our focus on the month of October. We have a lot of details to comb out, but if we can make the idea work, it could be a lot of fun for the businesses and the Chamber as we head into fall.”
