UK PonyCon prides itself on being a welcoming, friendly, safe and fun event for all attendees. At this time, we find it difficult to imagine holding an event in person this October that maintains all of these qualities due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.You can't really argue with that. The convention has been rescheduled to 8/9 May 2021, at the same Nottingham venue originally announced. The UKPC communication goes on to say that guest of honour Kelly Sheridan has agreed to the new date. The "SpookyCon" theme has been dropped, though, presumably because it was tied in with Hallowe'en and so was felt not to really work for May.
Of course, none of us know what the situation will be in a year's time. We all hope that in-person conventions will be possible again by next May, but there's so much uncertainty at the moment that even a date very nearly a full year hence can't be considered nailed on by any means. After all, some of the last restrictions to be eased are likely to be those on mass-attendance indoor events. That means conventions.
UK PonyCon's news also raises the question of whether the other British autumn convention planned for this year -- Griffish Isles in November -- will be happening. That's a smaller event, so it might be able to operate in some form while larger events still can't -- and I wouldn't expect any official word for a little while -- but GI can't be considered certain to go ahead. Let's see how things look by August or September.
Going back to UKPC, the change of date actually makes it a little more likely that I might be able to attend. I have to be a little more careful than some people owing to an underlying medical condition, and I'd largely made my mind up not to attend this October. With another seven months to wait, there's a chance now that attending may be a reasonable thing for me to do, though I don't intend to take foolish risks, not even for Pony. We'll have to see how things develop.
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