Earlier this week Ohio Governor Mike DeWine addressed COVID-19 outbreak concerns ahead of the Arnold Sport's Festival expected to draw some 250,000 people to the Columbus Convention Center.
The annual event, named after former California Governor and bodybuilding-icon Arnold Schwarzenegger, also acts as an international competition drawing 22,000 athletes from 80 nations.
Gov. DeWine announced Tuesday that athletes would be able to compete at this year's event, which began Thursday, but no spectators would be allowed to attend the event and the expo, which draws hundreds of exhibitors from across the world, would be canceled.
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Robert Cheeke is Vegan Strong's founder.
"Unfortunately, the virus has led to multiple event cancellations for us, so in addition to the Arnold Sports Festival, we also missed the annual Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim this week, but we are hopeful that the rest of our tour between now and November will carry on as scheduled," Cheeke said in an email. "The deep economic implications of cancelling an event expecting more than 250,000 attendees over the course of three days could be far reaching, especially for small companies and organizations like ours who rely on these events to get our message out there."
The sudden cancellation of this week's Arnold Classic impacts those in Minneapolis planning to make the trip, including a group of eight people with Vegan Strong.
Susan Peters is the client director at Effect Partners. "We're disappointed, but completely understand the need to protect everyone's health," Peters said.
Vegan Strong first exhibited at the 2019 Arnold Classic, where they spoke to hundreds of thounsands of people about vegan-based bodybuilding and diets. The inability to not have that opportunity this year could hurt not only Vegan Strong's business, but others as well.
"We've heard from other exhibitors and event organizers how they're impacted by the Arnold Classic getting canceled," Peters said.
Despite the Arnold Classic expo's cancellation, organizers still plan to welcome 22,000 athletes from 80 nations who will compete in over 80 different events throughout the weekend.