Whew!! I'll be honest and tell you I have gone from fuming hot, as mad as I have ever been, on Thursday when we canceled the Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards, to now pretty calm, and almost relieved it happened. I was a non-believer in this whole virus/hysteria quite frankly. I was so buried in planning this show, that I never saw anything like this coming. So when it came, I was not mentally prepared at all. All I could think about was all the work I put into the show, and all the people who had or would be traveling great distances to get there. That's not to mention all the things people gave up, time-wise, to attend as well. They say time heals all wounds, and that may be true, but with time, I have also seen just how serious this "event" is. EVERYTHING is cancelled, and now we are being told to be in groups of ten or less. Regardless of your thoughts on why, this is SERIOUS, and honestly, I am proud of the people who pushed me in what was the correct direction to cancel the show.
This isn't to say that I don't still feel terrible about the people who got here for no reason, or missed out on other things they could have done. I will always have a broken heart over that, but as cliche' as it sounds, there is nothing we can do about it now.
Now that we have that out of the way. Many have asked some questions. Here are my answers to the main ones I have received;
- Is the show actually cancelled or will it be made-up?
- Sadly, it is cancelled, at least in the sense that it will not happen as originally planned. We had 500 guests from multiple bands and celebrity presenters coming from over 20 different states. Trying to pinpoint a date to make it work for all of these people is impossible. However, I am working on ideas to still have a smaller celebration.
- When will winners be announced?
- As I mentioned above, I am planning a smaller celebration to still get as many people involved in one room to celebrate as possible. This event would be perfect to showcase some of the talent and to present the awards. However, due to the same circumstances that cancelled the show in the first place, booking any event right now isn't smart. So, I plan to wait this whole thing out for a few weeks to see if we can figure something out. If not, there is other options to just announce winners without an event. If that is what's chosen, I will get you more info soon.
- Will the show ever happen again?
- Many people close to me and the show know that the last show we did have, had major technical issues, leading me to tell some close to me that I considered not doing it anymore. Add that to a cancelled show this year, and luck doesn't seem to be on my side with this show. So, sure, I have thought maybe it's not worth it, but I have also heard from hundreds and hundreds of people about how much this show means to them. It makes me feel a sense of responsibility to those who love it so much to do it. A little time to reset will help my mind, and I will likely reach out to those involved before planning of a new show starts to see if the interest is still there. Basically what I am saying is that if the bands and artists still want the show, I will continue to make it happen somehow, someway.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly at ShawnPatrick@iHeartMedia.com. Thanks for your understanding in these tough times, and thanks for all the support. Stay safe!