The Florida United Numismatists (FUN) board of directors has announced that FUN 2021 is cancelled. Slated for January 7-10, 2021 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, the convention would have been the 66th annual event held by the Florida organization devoted to serving collectors of coins, paper money, medals, and tokens.
The FUN board has worked hard to make this show a reality, desperately wanting to provide a venue for our dealers to get back to what they love and have our numismatic community be able to convene again. However, it has become clear that the “cons” far outweigh the “pros” at this point in time. The COVID virus is spiraling out of control and the predictions are that will continue to get worse through the dates of the FUN show.
First and foremost is the concern for the health and well-being of the dealers, service providers, and public attendees. There are currently many concerns and many unknowns. The FUN board built in precautions with mandatory masks, purchasing hand sanitizer, and performing daily temperature checks of everyone who enters the bourse area but was still apprehensive about being able to keep everyone safe with some level of social distancing and other safety measures.
“It was a very difficult decision, but we must cancel the FUN 2021 convention,” says FUN President Bob Hurst. “The board of directors agreed to continue as long as the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests stayed at 10% or less in Orange County, Florida. Currently, it is at 14%, and we cannot wait to see if it will go down. Making the decision to cancel this 66th annual show was not made in haste. I hope to see all of you at Summer FUN 2021.”
“I know this was an incredibly difficult decision of the entire FUN Board, but it was the correct one,” remarks Heritage Auctions CEO Steve Ivy. “In the final analysis the wellbeing of FUN and its members is the ultimate consideration. The January FUN convention is and will continue to be the premier coin show of the year. Heritage Auctions and its entire staff look forward to the upcoming summer show and auction with even more anticipation than normal. And the January 2022 show will be like no other.”
Florida’s numismatic clubs are unable to get their members to commit to attend the show and are cancelling their FUN-sponsored club buses. The FUN board directors believe this is a good indicator that the public is not yet comfortable attending a convention.
If you booked a hotel reservation through FUN’s official housing bureau your reservation will automatically be cancelled. Refund checks will be mailed to all who paid a bourse fee.
FUN deeply regrets disappointing many people, but looks forward to better days ahead and a hugely successful show in July 2021. The FUN board encourage everybody to consider attending Summer FUN in 2021. They will meet in the early spring to consider special plans for that show to help make up for the loss of the January show. There will be plenty of promotional items in storage to give away.
For more information go to the official FUN website.
If you want to remember what the FUN is like, read Ursula Kampmann’s report who attended the FUN 2018.
