Boatnik 2020 canceled amid ongoing COVID-19 restrictions

The iconic Grants Pass event won't happen this year, but organizers hope to return in 2021.

Brown - this is the first part of reopen with city d state officials regarding covid-19.

It says its canceling the event for safety of everyone involved.

You're seeing video from last year's boatnik.

The club still plans to perform a memorial day ceremony.

I spoke with the active club president today to discuss those plans and the impact of its decision to cancel boatnik.

So i'm sure there were a lot of things that went into this decision.

Can you sort of go through the decision making process for us and what ultimately did it come down to?

Uh, ultimately, you know, because of coven 19, uh, the pandemic going on, um, pretty much all, you know, festivals that have mass gatherings, you know, kind of the ultimate, uh, not knowing, uh, when it was going to be released for people to be able to get out and do things.

Um, that was kind of the.

Final straw and the fact that we just need more timeline to be available that make it happen during memorial day.

Uh, so we hit look to push forward, um, later on here as well.

Are you still planning to hold some kind of memorial day ceremony or celebration and what would that look like?

Rolling?

Well, we are, um, we are currently working with, um, the government agencies that we have to deal with as far as the army air force, uh, for the flyover.

Um, 21 gun salute, that kind of thing.

Um, so we are still active as far as that goes.

Uh, we haven't had a a hundred percent confirmation on what's going to be available at that time.

Um, but we are having a zoom meeting this next week to try and get everything put together.

I know this is a major fundraiser for your organization and others benefiting from it.

What kind of a hit will this mean for not just your group, but those who also benefit from the money raised at both?

Nick?

Yeah, absolutely.

It is our number one fundraiser.

Um, all the proceeds from boat nick, we put right back into our community, uh, to the, to the kids in our community.

Um, so it has a kind of a big blow to us.

Um, but what we'll be okay, we didn't have to put out a lot of money so far.

Uh, most of the money that we have to spend is basically the week of vote nick.

Uh, the money that we did put out just for, uh, down payments and stuff, um, that a lot of that stuff will be refunded.

So we'll, we'll be okay, we're gonna push forward and just make 20, 21 grand one.

How do you start planning for that?

Uh, do you start planning for that now?

Absolutely.

Uh, both nick is a major festival.

It's got a lot of moving parts, a lot of logistics to it.

Uh, we actually plan for it, uh, year-round, so yeah, we, we will be busy here pretty quick.

When do you think you'll have some kind of final information on what the memorial day ceremony is gonna look like?

Okay.

Uh, we should have something.

Um, i just talked to our guy that's in charge of, uh.

Talking to the government as far as the flyovers, uh, the army, that kind of stuff.

Um, he has a meeting with them next week to know for sure as we can have what we need to be able to put on the, um, the memorial day service.

Well, charles, we appreciate all the hard work of your organization and uh, we hope to see you again next year.

Travis palmerton from the active club.

Thanks very much.

Thank you for having me.