For the health and safety of our international team members, ElevaFinca will not be exhibiting or attending the Specialty Coffee Expo (SCA) in New Orleans. Although we had planned to exhibit for the first time in 2020 with the hopes of rescheduling our booth for this year, unfortunately the recent rise of the Delta covid variant, particularly in New Orleans, has extended our concerns and we will not be able to participate this fall.
It has been a difficult year for everyone, especially for our team members in Peru and Colombia where vaccination continues to be difficult to obtain and transmission rates continue to disrupt operations throughout the supply chain. We have all witnessed the Delta variant disrupt our lives and send our communities back into an uncomfortable reality.
As the only representative of ElevaFinca residing in the United States, I have taken the opportunity to attend several Coffee Fest events across the U.S. and more recently the NAMA CTW show hosted in New Orleans in August. The event was successfully managed and executed in a safe and cautious manner. Many vendors that had planned to exhibit withdrew their commitments due to the recent rise of the Delta variant transmission rates in New Orleans(this however did allow social distancing an easy task to comply with). Outside of the conference center, vaccination cards are required to enter restaurants, bars, and other venues. The SCA is taking many precautions to ensure a safe and impactful show. At this time, updated entry requirements for SCA EXPO will require;
Advanced Registration Only: All visitors must register online in advance. Ticket holders will collect their Expo badges on-site at the venue. Please note that both the venue and Expo 2021 will be cash-free and will accept only electronic payments.
Negative Tests Required: Per the City of New Orleans latest COVID-19 guidelines, all attendees—including those who are fully vaccinated—must present a negative PCR COVID-19 test valid within 72 hours of badge pick up to enter the venue. Please see the City of New Orleans COVID-19 website to find a list of approved testing sites: https://ready.nola.gov/incident/coronavirus/testing/.
Masks Required: Per the City of New Orleans latest COVID-19 guidelines, masks are required inside the Expo venue at all times. You may remove your mask when drinking or eating, but please be sure to keep it on before and after consumption.
Sprudge.com, a coffee news website reporting on the SCA Expo in NOLA reached out to the SCA for comment. Yannis Apostolopoulos tells Sprudge, “We have seen many members of the coffee community at some of the recent coffee events in NOLA and Anaheim, and we look forward to seeing you all at Expo. Expo and the USCC will be a little different in 2021, but it remains the best opportunity for the industry to gather and do business.”
I am one of the many members of the coffee community that attended both the coffee shows hosted in NOLA (NAMA CTW) and Anaheim (Coffee Fest) in recent weeks. Attending these two recent shows was enjoyable, yet very slimmed down. I enjoyed several meaningful conversations without crowded spaces. Yet, out of respect to our international team members from Colombia, Peru, and Canada, we have all decided to postpone our SCA Expo engagements and look forward to seeing you all in Boston of April 2022!
For your consideration, we have collected a few news articles expressing their situations, concerns, precautions, and cancellations. We’d love to hear from you about your plans for attending the show! Let’s connect online or perhaps at a smaller event soon!
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