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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Does YOUR country have a gathering in one place of hundreds of thousands of people each year? If so was it cancelled?

Does YOUR country have a gathering in one place of hundreds of thousands of people each year? If so was it cancelled?

Posted - August 8, 2020

Responses


  • 10449

    Hundreds of thousands, no (this is a small county), just 91,000 or so.  And yes, it was canceled.

    Our annual county fair draws a ‘fairly’ large crowd (pardon the pun).  It was scheduled to run from August 12 through 16.  However, due to the virus it was canceled.  (and many people are none too happy)

    We also have numerous other large crowd events (i.e. music festivals, livestock events) that have either been canceled or postponed as well.  The s***’s really hit the fan if they have to cancel our famous Christmastime events. 

      August 8, 2020 1:08 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Well Shuhak 91,000 is way big in my book. Everywhere around the world TRADITIONS are being shoved aside to let the virus rule. Can you think of one single tiny thing that the virus has brought that hasn't been devastating? One tiny litte "good" thing. Then Mother Nature decides to "act up" here there and everywhere. I dunno. Seems to me to be a conspiracy of sorts. Then to top it off we the people are stuck with the worst possible gubment at such a time. What else do you suppose can be on the horizon and heading straight for us? Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday.  Where you live is a charming place. Hope you can pick up where you left off whenever it's safe again. Safe again. Hmmm. Is that gone or just on vacation?
      August 9, 2020 1:24 AM MDT
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  • 3680
    No, not hundred of thousands all in one go. (In the UK)]

    Whet we do have is a huge number and range of public gatherings from major professional sports and music events outdoors or in big stadia, via all manner of special-interest pro and amateur-run events like vintage-vehicle rallies, large exhibitions, town carnivals and Christmas street-fairs, to village church fetes run by local volunteers.

    Some of the big ones host thousands at once, perhaps on each of a few days; a village fete sees maybe a couple of hundred people over the afternoon.

    However, if you are asking against the pandemic context, we need consider that many people who attend one event might attend others of the same type or entirely different.

    All in the present tense.....

    A major exhibition I had hoped to attend in October is now off. The organisers had waited as long as possible before deciding, but it is now clear that basically all large public events are likely to be write-offs for the rest of the year. 

    '

    There is a pair of otherwise-unique public annual events run by volunteers in the North of England, that were both cancelled this year. These are something called the Gaping Gill Winch Meet, run one each by two local caving-clubs. These set up diesel-hydraulic winches by which paying tourists can be lowered down the 340ft deep Gaping Gill pothole, to view the huge chamber below. (Oodles of photos on-line!) Normally you can only see it if an experienced, fully-equipped caver. Now, these events are outdoors, way up on an exposed fell. Safe enough? Ah, no. It brings a lot of people into a relatively small area; but also,certain parts of the operation entail the volunteer operators being very close to each visitor, making any pandemic precautions problematical to say the least.

    They also raise a wider point in that these and a lot of other public events in rural areas bring a lot of visitors to the villages, but a result of easing the lock-down has been huge influxes of people to very many beaches, inland beauty-spots etc., to the point where the locals just do not want them.  Even when car-parks and public toilets had been re-opened, a lot of the visitors have made themselves utterly unwanted by having no respect for their surroundings, other people - nor evidently for themselves. So they block roads and farm gates with inconsiderate parking, abandon vast amounts of litter and even human faeces, cause heath fires with disposable barbeques, abuse and spit at anyone trying to instil some sort of order, and so on. 

    My own village has two Christmas-tide events: an afternoon street-fair, and public carol-singing, both in the Square and tending to become quite crowded. They are in December but I will be surprised if they go ahead this year.

    So for the time being, the restrictions and their effects go a lot further than the obvious.
      August 8, 2020 4:27 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Condolence to you and your fellow citizens m'dear. I think among the most enjoyable of things is our traditions. We all have them and look forward to them. Gone for awhile or possibly forever? Will we ever be able to resume our lives as they were before without masking and social distancing and being ever wary of "the other"? I hope so but maybe some of the traditions are gone for good. I think all of us live in areas where there are certain charming aspects to being there. Where you live seems MOST CHARMING. Things to which we look forward each year are comforting. They help give us a certain stability in a chaotic world. For us in southern California it's the ROSE PARADE in Pasadena. I haven't heard but I expect it will be cancelled too if it hasn't been already. Or if it does go on miraculously the crowd size will be severely limited. That's months away but well things are not going well for us viruswise in the USA. We are now and have been the tragic laughingstock in the world. The aberration anomaly peculiar bizarre. When or if that will change I cannot even guess. Thank you for your informative reply Durdle. The path ahead is unknown for we the people. I think it's somewhat more certain for other countries. Fingers crossed for everyone. :)
      August 9, 2020 1:35 AM MDT
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  • 16202
    The biggest is the Australian Football League Grand Final - analogous to your Super Bowl, but our footballers play a much faster game and don't wear armour like a bunch of pansies.
    It hasn't been cancelled yet, but it seems certain that if it does go ahead it won't be at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where it has been held for 100 years, due to Victoria being locked down. Three alternative venues are being considered, none with the capacity of the MCG but in cities that are relatively COVID free - the Adelaide Oval, the Woolloongabba Ground in Brisbane or Optus Stadium in Perth.
      August 8, 2020 5:42 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Oh dear R. ADELAIDE? Oh dear. Perhaps you Aussies value LIFE far more than we pansy Americans and all the folks who show up WILL WEAR MASKS, social distance and use common sense. Here? Hahahahaha! No way. They just DO NOT CARE. Problem is of course folks from everywhere bring with them all kinds of things...not always knowingly. Then they go back and take things back unknowingly and maybe those things are unwelcome. Anyway however it goes fingers crossed it works out well. As for pansies. Do you know that brain concussions EVEN WHEN WEARING HELMUTS are what is turning players AWAY from the game? Do your boys/men TACKLE and PILE ON as ours do? I cannot conceive of any SANE person subjecting himself to that. Thank you for your informative reply. Have you ever attended it? Kinda sad that all our traditions are having to be pushed aside to accommodate to a virus! Happy Sunday to thee and thine! :)
      August 9, 2020 1:18 AM MDT
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  • 16202
    Never a Grand Final, Melbourne is one of my least favourite places to be and it's expensive. I've been to plenty of regular season games, as well as umpiring at amateur level.

      August 9, 2020 2:19 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    Even though it can be a pain in the derriere it's always more fun BEING THERE isn't it? Here "getting there" can be a nightmare. Very expensive parking and it takes forever when the thing is over to leave. Very tiring so why bother if you can watch it on the telly in the comfort of your own home? On the other hand when I was ten my parents took us to see The Rose Parade in person. Of course that was 72 years ago and things weren't so busy/complicated. I don't remember any discomfort at all. I just remember seeing those floats come bye and being able to inhale the fragrance of the flowers. It was SO exciting. Then later the floats could be seen at a place they called "Victory Park" I think. Only went there once as an adult. It was spectacular. But I'm pretty sure that's moot for this year and maybe for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your reply R and the video!. This post was edited by RosieG at August 9, 2020 2:36 AM MDT
      August 9, 2020 2:35 AM MDT
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