“It means a lot to a lot of people...not just around here. Literally we had people calling us crying, because they had been waiting all year because we had to cancel last year due to COVID.”
Bryan Massengale says the Newnan-Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Association show is the largest in the Southeast. And it’s not only big on the calendar this time of year in Georgia, but across the U.S., with many attendees traveling hours from out of state for the event.
It was supposed to open Friday morning and last into Sunday. Instead, Massengale has spent much of his time since around noon Wednesday making calls to exhibitors, sponsors, etc... that the show won’t be happening.
“It was a punch in the gut. We had already invested money into this,” says Massengale - president of the CVPA and organizer of this show, which was to have had its 18th edition. “At the end of the day I have to figure out what’s left for us to recover and see how we’re going to pay for this, because there’s money that’s already been spent.”
Massengale’s and all other Georgia poultry trade shows, flea markets, swap meets, and the like are now suspended by order of the state Department of Agriculture. It’s the proactive move by Georgia to protect the poultry industry from bird flu. The last few weeks there have been reported outbreaks in Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, and North Carolina.
“Avian influenza is a serious issue, and I’m not downplaying that. However, the timing of it was what I was questioning.” Massengale says he suspected something was amiss when his group filed for a show permit two weeks ago. “And it was kind of odd to me last week that we didn’t have it. Normally we have that permit in our hand within 24 hours.”
His group tried to get an extension for a few days so the show could go on, but that was a no-go.
“I’m definitely not going to disagree with whatever the state agriculture sees best for the state, but it was hard.”
Massengale says the last time there was a suspension of poultry shows a few years ago, it went on for months. For this situation, whenever a green-light is given, he has hope to stage a scaled-back show. But that’s no guarantee.
“It’s disappointing and for chicken people it means something, and everybody’s got their one thing that they love, and their hobby, and chickens is what we do.”