Calling all planners – set your dates!

EventCheck Knox is a sad place for extroverts right now.

It started in mid-March with a sprinkling of postponements because of novel coronavirus and then washed across April as nearly every event got postponed or canceled.

Events in May also are being affected. That’s the bad news, especially for extroverts and even more so for planners, venues and vendors.

The good news is that a lot of events already have been rescheduled for as soon as June and as late as November.

That is where I need planners to help me keep EventCheck Knox as updated as possible. All of the events scheduled for this spring remain on the calendar with updates on cancellations and postponements, so that users of the site can easily see the status.

As new dates are selected for postponed events, I add the new date to the appropriate month and note in the details that the event was rescheduled.

Email [email protected] or fill out the Submit Event form, whichever is easier, to keep me in the loop and ensure as much exposure as possible for your event.

Keep in mind that September, October and November already are busy months, so July – which usually is pretty bare – and August are in play, too. Also, if you’ve set the date for your regular fall and winter events, send those in now, so all planners can see what is scheduled.

The Keys of Hope Luncheon, which draws more than 700 people, moved from May 7 to Aug. 13. The Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon, which brings thousands of runners and spectators to downtown Knoxville and along the race course, moved from March 28-29 to Nov. 14-15.

The Knoxville Botanical Garden’s always popular Hats in Bloom Luncheon selected early summer, moving from May 17 to June 26, and noted the event is indoors for anyone wondering about hot weather.

Event fatigue, as quaint as that sounds now, can set in, so let’s spread out the postponed events with the regular ones as much as possible.

One 2020 event took the step of postponing for a full year – the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony is now June 12, 2021. The 2020 class becomes the 2021 class. The event, which is held in downtown Knoxville at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and Tennessee Theatre, attracts attendees from across the United States and honors an international player. It is not a wait-and-see situation because of the need to book flights and reserve blocks of hotel rooms.

An event having to postpone for a year also is an indicator of how serious this pandemic is right now. The Knoxville Chamber’s website has a page dedicated to COVID-19 updates and links for small businesses.

We will get through this together. Let’s start planning.

Maria Cornelius, a writer/editor for Moxley Carmichael, populates the EventCheck Knox calendar. Without spring baseball, she has even more time to update the calendar.