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FAIRMONT-- The Visit Fairmont Board of Directors has decided that they cannot host the 2021 Minnesota Governor's Pheasant Hunting Opener after a lengthy and thoughtful debate.
The decision to submit an application was made in 2019. It was announced at the 2019 Opener in Austin, MN, that Fairmont was selected to host the 2020 Opener. A group of people including Executive Director of Visit Fairmont Stephanie Busiahn were in attendance to get a feel for the event. The planning process did not start until January and February of 2020.
In August of 2020, Gov. Walz postponed the event until 2021. Busiahn said that the board saw the postponement coming after the pandemic started in March. The planning committee paused to kind of regroup. The committee worked with Explore Minnesota Tourism and the Department of Natural Resources to work through some items.
"We were a little sad because there was so much hype and momentum that had been built up from filling out the application, submitting the application, announcing that we were awarded and it was the 10th annual Governor's Pheasant Hunting Opener," Busiahn said. "There was a lot of excitement and a lot of momentum we had built."
Busiahn said that this was not a decision that was made lightly. When the planning committee paused it was at a time of the pandemic where according to Busiahn didn't have room on their plates to add another thing, that people were wearing multiple hats such as they were dads, moms, and teachers and that there was so much going on.
"For us, as event organizers, to ask them to add this other plate and continue to work through that we felt was extremely insensitive," Busiahn said. "We wanted to make sure that everybody was in the right place that they needed to be in order to rally back and put this together."
Busiahn said as a whole that the board and planning committee is extremely disappointed. Busiahn added that there's been a lot of energy and a lot of work already done.
With the Governor's phased approach to reopening the state on July 1, Busiahn said that there was no knowledge of that date and that this event takes a full year of planning. Even though the governor indicted July 1, it could have been September or October before an indication was made.
"The piece that I want to make sure that people understand is that when the going got tough, it’s not like we just threw up our hands and walked away," Busiahn said. "There were so many uncertainties and so many pieces that we didn't know."
Among those uncertainties were economically where the business community would be at in terms of helping make this event possible. Busiahn Added that another thing was that this was a huge opportunity for the community of Fairmont.
"We wanted to make sure that we did our community proud," Busiahn said. "That we were able to highlight, showcase and plan a well thought out and picture-perfect event."
Busiahn believes that the cancellation of this event will not hurt Fairmont in terms of visits. Busiahn said that hosting the Opener wasn't designed to bring in hundreds of people, but rather was focused on a public relations standpoint.
"It's the ability for us to tell our story of the community on a statewide platform and really push out all of the amazing things that we have to offer here in Fairmont," Busiahn said.
Busiahn Said that Visit Fairmont will continue to apply and take a shot at this process again. Busiahn added that it will come when it is sure that it is the right time for the community and the right time to be able to showcase that.
Busiahn wanted to tell readers and community members that were excited about the Opener that they are not alone and that there will be other attempts to bring this event to the community again.
"Everything had aligned for us to host in 2020," Busiahn said. "We had some great momentum with the conservation, our businesses were doing well and it was a great time, probably one of the best times for Visit Fairmont and Martin County to land this event in 2020, and then we all know what happens. Unfortunately, the timing is not right for us.”