Columbia businesses take another hit as Show-Me State Games canceled because of COVID-19, health concerns

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Organizers with the Show-Me State Games canceled the annual event over concerns of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Event spokeswoman Emily Lorenz said in a news release the summer games were canceled to protect the health and safety of athletes, spectators, volunteers, officials and others.

The release said other factors included athletes withdrawing because of health concerns, eforcement of social distancing and mask guidelines, as well as, training and recuriting volunteers.

“While we are disappointed that we won’t be able to host our sporting events, we believe we are upholding our mission by putting our participants and the community’s health first," Show-Me State Games executive director Dave Fox said.

The annual sporting event is comprised of more than 40 events and held throughout Columbia. According to the release, 20 of the events had already been canceled prior to Wednesday's announcement.

The announcement said all athletes will receive a refund for their entry fees.

The Show-Me Games is usually a large economic driver for the city of Columbia. In 2019, the Columbia Convention and Visitor's Bureau reported more than 20,000 athletes were involved, bringing a total of around 57,000 total people to the city.

Spokeswoman for the bureau Megan McConachie said those individuals bring over $10 million dollars in direct economic impact, which will be lost now the games are canceled.

"That's quite a big loss to those businesses that would typically see a large influx of people during those Show Me State Games Weekends," McConachie said. "Knowing that they won't be here this summer is understandable, but still hard to take in."

The owner Addison's and Sophia's restaurants in Columbia Matt Jenne said they usually see more business during the games. While he said it will likely have some impact on his business, he isn't too worried.

"We kind of are rolling with the punches at this point," Jenne said. "It's not something we were counting on to be the thing that was going to save us, so we'll just have to adjust and adapt."

This comes after several large scale events like graduations and other festivals have been canceled amid the pandemic.

"I think the restaurant industry as a whole counts on a steady set of events that we are used to having," Jenne said. "And so when they do get canceled we kind of have to adjust."

McConachie said the bureau is working on getting people to visit Columbia, regardless of the event cancelations. She said her team is mainly pushing the outdoor activities Columbia has to offer.

"I think our partners also understand that the safety of residents and visitors is paramount, you know this is a pandemic," McConachie said. "For us to continue to mover forward and hopefully find those successes again, we will have to get past this and it will take a while."

Jenne agreed safety and health of the community is the top priority, so he understands the cancelation.

"We have to be be pretty vigilant when it comes to COVID and make sure we are doing our best to keep the spread low," Jenne said. "As long as the spread is low we can still maintain semblance of an economy."