This is the letter I didn’t want to have to write. The Board of Directors has decided it is best to reschedule the Albuquerque Grand National until a later date. I had hoped that we would be able to hold this year’s Grand National in Albuquerque with a few modest alterations. However, despite vaccination opportunities improving, and an optimistic outlook for moving past this pandemic, COVID continues to upend our plans.
While significant progress is being made in addressing the pandemic’s health impacts, they aren’t gone. COVID related restrictions remain in place in many parts of the country, including Albuquerque. We had anticipated that some level of social distancing might remain in place. But current restrictions and those likely to be in place for our dates, would adversely impact most of our activities, tours and tour venues. We anticipated we would not be able to have our usual buffets, banquets, bar service, or hospitality suite. We had additional concerns about having enough experienced judges to judge the cars. Secondarily, we felt that we could have difficulty being able to meet our significant financial obligations to the host hotel as well. At the time our decision was made, we could not assure that we could hold an event of the caliber you have come to expect from your Club.
Therefore rather than hold a severely diminished event, the Board decided to postpone the Albuquerque Grand National to June of 2023. I know this is very disappointing to our host Region members, who worked diligently to hold this event in the face of this pandemic. It is also disappointing for those who made plans to attend, especially those of you who felt we should have held the GN last year.
After having cancelled last year’s Grand National, we were doing all we could to try to hold this year’s event as planned. Unfortunately, the situation has simply not improved enough to enable us to safely do so. Therefore in the best interest of the Club and the health of our fellow members, we believe this is the correct decision. In the interim, the outlook is very good to have all these concerns behind us for our Grand National in Chicago (Lombard, Illinois) June 21-25, 2022, and a rescheduled Albuquerque Grand National June 20-24, 2023. They are both going to be great events. I hope to see you there.
We are working on possibly holding a more casual Cadillac-Lasalle Club gathering in the Southeast in October. I’ll keep you posted as planning for that event evolves.
Until then, stay safe. Glenn
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Note that the Albuquerque, NM has been postponed to June 2023.