INDIANAPOLIS — In a huge blow for a downtown already reeling from a severe slowdown in tourism and convention business, the National FFA Organization has decided to cancel the year’s edition of its annual convention that typically brings tens of thousands of people to Indianapolis’ core.
Last year, FFA brought over 68,000 people—mostly high school students—with an economic impact of $38 million. This year’s convention, scheduled for Oct. 28-31, was expected to generate about $40.3 million for the city.
The Indianapolis-based group devoted to agricultural education cited lingering concerns over the coronavirus pandemic as the rationale for scuttling the event. It instead plans to host a virtual convention on the same dates.
Mark Poeschl, CEO of FFA, said the organization’s board of directors decided this week to halt planning for its in-person event and instead focus on online programming to “ensure that our members and guests [have] the full convention experience.”
The decision to go virtual this year came after consulting school administrators and instructors, attendees and sponsors, Poeschl said.
“As we continued to plan for our national convention, it became clear that travel restrictions and public health concerns, among many other pandemic-related challenges, made hosting our in-person event impossible in 2020,” he said.
