Why was the London Boat, Fishing, and Outdoor show cancelled, despite being promoted?

For the second year in a row, the London Boat, Fishing, and Outdoor Show received widespread online promotion but the event was never actually planned to take place.

Signs were posted outside the Agriplex in London, Ont. this past weekend – notifying people that the 2024 London Boat Fishing and Outdoor show had been cancelled, but it was never scheduled for this year.

“Unfortunately the boat show did not happen again this year, for the second straight year post pandemic, and understandably it caused some confusion, people were reaching out to us beforehand,” explained Greg Blanchard, Western Fair spokesperson.

Despite the fact that Western Fair District posted the cancellations on its social media, several viewers reached out to CTV News saying they saw different messaging on various websites promoting the event. Although no tickets were sold, people made the drive down to the show that never was.

Dwayne McKillop, whose company Continuum Productions Inc. runs the show, said because the event has been around for many years, a lot of industry websites didn’t bother to check in with the event to see if it was running this year and automatically updated their websites promoting the event.

“I feel bad for anybody who is showing up, because they are very loyal guests. I don’t want anybody to feel like they are being misled, it’s just as you know, when you delete something off the world wide web, it sometimes doesn’t delete as ever,” explained McKillop.

The show had been a staple in London for many years, but like many live events, it was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and hasn’t been able to resurrect itself since.

“To make things even more challenging in our industry, not only were we shut down without revenue for three years, any type of government funding that we took over the pandemic is now due, and so we have to focus on paying that back before we can get back on our feet again,” said McKillop.

In the meantime, the Western Fair District wants to remind people that when it comes to speciality shows being hosted at the Agriplex, to check their website.

“Get all the most up to date and accurate information and purchase your tickets from there – it’s the safest way to go,” added Blanchard.