Schnauzerfest fate uncertain; Geocaching still on for October
♦ The Forum will host a Georgia Fire Service Conference in the fall.
The status of the 2021 Schnauzerfest remains a mystery this weekend as organizers scramble to find a solution for not being able to hold a portion of that event in the Forum River Center.
The inaugural Schnauzerfest in 2019 brought close to 1,200 people, and some 630 dogs to Rome from all over the country.
Organizer Hugh Tyner, in a text response to a RN-T article Thursday, said “I intend to fight the county on this ... even if it means taking them to court. We had an agreement and were on the calendar ever since October of 2019.”
The Schnauzerfestrome.com website still indicates the event is on for Oct. 2223. Tyner did not return texts or phone calls to the RN-T on Friday.
The event venue is currently being used to help the Floyd County Superior Court deal with a backlog of cases that resulted from the inability to conduct jury trials for most of the past year.
Georgia’s Rome Office of Tourism Executive Director Lisa Smith has been working with Tyner to keep the event in Rome, suggesting that the Mather Payne Special Events Building and Palladium at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds could easily meet Tyner’s needs and be just minutes from downtown.
As badly as she’d like to have the Forum River Center open to special events again, Smith said she understands the county’s position with respect to handling the court backlog and security concerns.
“The quicker we work through this (backlog), the faster we’ll get it back,” Smith said.
Another event that downtown leaders expressed concerns about relative to use of the Forum, the Going Caching Mega Event in October, is going to take place in Rome as scheduled.
Organizer Andi Beyer said that past events have utilized the Forum for a big Saturday night dress-up event that only a facility as large as the Forum could accommodate.
“I get it that the county needs it (The Forum) as a court,” Beyer said. “I know we’re not being singled out.”
The event has become a fall vacation for families across the country and Beyer said they have just decided to plunge forward with the event after missing a year due to COVID.
As to what will happen with her Saturday night event?
“We’re working on a couple of things,” Beyer said. “But it just won’t be the same.”
The event has been held in Rome five times and brings between 800 and a thousand people to town for most of a week.
Another event that will be held at the Forum this year is the Georgia Fire Service Conference on Sept. 7-11.
Rome was scheduled to host the conference in 2015 but had to cancel because the host hotel, the Courtyard Rome Riverwalk, wasn’t anywhere near finished at the time.
Rome was able to get the conference in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in cancellation last year.
Rome-floyd County Fire Chief Troy Brock said that one reason he is able to hold the conference in the Forum this year is that it is not an event that is open to the general public, removing any security concerns for the event.
Everyone who participates has to register in advance, and all of the participants are public safety personnel from all over the state.
The conference will culminate on Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against the United States.
That commemoration will take place at the Firefighters Memorial Plaza adjacent to City Hall, and Brock said he thinks bleachers may have to be brought in for the Saturday morning event.