2021 FUN Show is cancelled.

Press release:
"2021 FLORIDA UNITED NUMISMATISTS CONVENTION CANCELLED. Slated for January 7-10, 2021 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, the convention would have been the 66th annual event held by the Florida organization devoted to serving collectors of coins, paper money, medals, and tokens.
The FUN board has worked hard to make this show a reality, desperately wanting to provide a venue for our dealers to get back to what they love and have our numismatic community be able to convene again. However, it has become clear that the “cons” far outweigh the “pros” at this point in time. The COVID virus is spiraling out of control and the predictions are that will continue to get worse through the dates of the FUN show.

First and foremost is the concern for the health and well-being of our dealers, our service providers, and our public attendees. There are currently many concerns and many unknowns. The FUN board built in precautions with mandatory masks, purchasing hand sanitizer, and performing daily temperature checks of everyone who enters the bourse area but was still apprehensive about being able to keep everyone safe with some level of social distancing and other safety measures.

“It was a very difficult decision, but we must cancel the FUN 2021 convention,” says FUN President Bob Hurst. “The board of directors agreed to continue as long as the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests stayed at 10% or less in Orange County, Florida. Currently, it is at 14%, and we cannot wait to see if it will go down. Making the decision to cancel this 66th annual show was not made in haste. I hope to see all of you at Summer FUN 2021.”

“I know this was an incredibly difficult decision of the entire FUN Board, but it was the correct one,” remarks Heritage Auctions CEO Steve Ivy. “In the final analysis the wellbeing of FUN and its members is the ultimate consideration.

The January FUN convention is and will continue to be the premier coin show of the year. Heritage Auctions and its entire staff look forward to the upcoming summer show and auction with even more anticipation than normal. And the January 2022 show will be like no other.” Our clubs are unable to get their members to commit to attend the show and are cancelling their FUN-sponsored club buses.

We believe this is a good indicator that the public is not yet comfortable attending a convention. If you booked a hotel reservation through FUN’s official housing bureau your reservation will automatically be cancelled.

Refund checks will be mailed to all who paid a bourse fee. FUN deeply regrets disappointing many people, but we look forward to better days ahead and a hugely successful show in July 2021. We encourage all of you to consider attending Summer FUN in 2021.

The FUN board will meet in the early spring to consider special plans for that show to help make up for the loss of our January show. We will have plenty of promotional items in storage to give away and we can all celebrate better days together. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate these unprecedented situations."

 

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I know this had to be a hard decision. We just recently had to cancel our Indiana State show. You put so much work into making it happen and you don't want to feel like it is a waste of time. We also cancelled around a month out and I'm sure a lot of the same things we had to consider they did as well. While sad, it is not surprising.

 

It's sad but Bob Hurst made the right decision. The risk became too great. We need to work on getting this nasty thing under control for 2022.

 

Smartest decision I've seen come out of Florida in a very long time. There are more important things than coin shows (GASP!)...

 

Rip

 

What I like is that the organizers made the decision to cancel (and were not forced to by the government).

 

Bummer, but I was probably going to sit this one out, anyway. The Society of Silver Dollar Collectors always holds its annual VAM Thing on Friday afternoon at FUN. We'll work on having VAM Thing XVIII be a webinar this year. Whether it'll be at the original time slot on January 8 at 3:45 EST or not, I don't know.

 

I wonder if they'll make Summer FUN (assuming it goes off) a bit bigger this year ?

 

@Springford CC , makes me glad we didn't go with Heritage.

 

I was planning to go....but not worth the risk

 

Somehow, they'd have to convince people from northern states that going to Florida in July is a good idea. That's a tall order, compared with getting us there in January.

 

I am sorry to see it canceled but I have mixed feelings about it. On one positive note, the cash I had saved up for the bourse and auction can now be spent in good conscience in on-line auctions. Can you hear the hands rubbing in anticipation?

I don't think the FUN Board decides how big to make the show. I think they respond to the amount of dealer demand. Historically, the Summer show has been around 50% to 60% of the size of the Winter show. Part of this is undoubtedly due to snowbirds wanting to get to Florida in the winter, part due to the family attractions around Orlando, maybe part due to discretionary funds being more available in January than during the vacation months of summer.

I suspect that this coming summer's FUN show will be larger than in past years due to pent-up demand from dealers and collectors. Will it exceed even the smallest of prior years' Winter shows? Who knows but my guess is not. So if I had to make a SWAG, I'd say this summer's FUN show will be about 75% to 80% the size of the 2019 Winter FUN show.

 

The contracts they sign with the convention center will dictate how much floor space there is, and therefore the size of the bourse, and I think those are done years out. It's usually half the size of the Winter FUN show, as far as I know, and I don't think they'd try to make it any bigger than that this year. I'm looking forward to the Spring ANA in Phoenix as my next likely show and if I'm travelling anywhere in July, it will most likely not be to Florida.

Edit:

I just got off the phone with Randy Campbell a few minutes ago.

Two things that forced the cancellation of the FUN show were the Orlando City Council prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people and the Rosen hotel chain closing to guests through January. Summer FUN is expected to be about 250 tables this year.

 

I just received a call from one of the organizers. They kinda were forced, but there were several other factors that led to their decision

 

Smart decision, thank you.

 

Yup, I know that was a big selling card for me earlier this year.

Wow, can't believe it was only 11 months ago.

 

Yeah there is NO social distancing at a coin show. There’s nothin you can do.

 

There is no social distancing on planes or casinos. Cancelling events but yet how many people fly everyday. Bad Decision Do Not agree with it at all.

 

If their heavy-hitters said they wouuld not attend, it makes the show less viable.

Doesn't matter if the public or coin collectors show up, they need the dealers and others to show.