It’s happening again.
The spread of the COVID-19 delta variant and a global uptick in new cases has prompted a fresh wave of postponements in the live event space.
ABC Kids Expo — one of the biggest gatherings for baby gear and juvenile products — has been postponed until next year. The event was slated to take place Sept. 26-28 in Orlando. Details are light at the moment, but the promotion of the event was still active through the end of last week.
In the UK, Toy World reports that Distoy, originally slated for Oct. 26-29 in London, has also been pushed into 2022. Organizer David Potter tells the trade that increasing infection rates and the potential emergence of new variants were causes for the plug to be pulled. “As a result, many companies have banned international travel until 2022 by which time they — and we — hope that some kind of normality will have returned. Distoy without international travel simply won’t work,” he says.
The Toy Book was recently on the ground in Minneapolis for the return of the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy, the first major toy-related trade show to occur in the U.S. since the pandemic began. As it stands right now, Toy Fair Dallas is next up in October.
