The Philadelphia Flower Show Will Be Held Outdoors in the Summer of 2021
While the scheduled date is still more than six months away, the 2021 Philadelphia Flower Show just became the latest event to change its plans in wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
The 2021 event will be held outdoors next summer, the event's organizers reportedly announced in an email to members, Inquirer.com reports.
The annual event, which is put on by the PHS (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society), is billed as the "largest indoor flower show in the world" every year. It draws crowds of approximately 250,000 people to Philadelphia each year, and it typically takes place in the Pennsylvania Convention Center every February/March. In fact, the 2020 flower show, which closed on March 8, was the final event held at the Convention Center before COVID-19 forced the bustling center to pause operations.
“Philadelphia is our home and offers a number of locations where the Show will benefit from ‘borrowed scenery,’ space for safe distancing and access to mass transit, parking, and major highways,” PHS wrote in the email, the Inquirer.com shared.
The event, which has been affected by snowfall in years past, will depend on the weather forecast because it'll be held outside. As a result, the 2021 event will be held later in the year than usual.
“We decided to have the show. That’s the big news, and safety will be a very high priority in guiding all the decisions we make,” PHS chief marketing officer, Lisa Stephano, told Inquirer.com. “We’re hoping to have some more definitive information in the next few weeks, but the virus has really prompted us to take a fresh look at the show.”
PHS says its working with exhibitors, volunteers, contractors, and more to make the decision. They hope to announce a location this fall they say.
The Inquirer.com has more details about the history of the show and the ramifications of this year's decision. Click here to read those details.