The rising number of covid cases has forced the postponement of the Southwest Business and Entrepreneur Expo.

The fifth annual Expo was set to take place in early February in Souris. However the organizing committee met on Wednesday and decided to wait until April in hopes of holding an in person expo.

“We met this week as a committee and we decided to postpone because we want people to attend. We’re looking at the spring because we really want our keynote speakers to attend. They are out of Ontario and we really want to bring it to this area. With rising case numbers we just couldn’t do it safely right now” said Souris Glenwood EDO Echo Finlay.

The expo is a combination of speakers, panel presentations, trade show, networking, and a business pitch event with an opportunity to win cash prizes.

Despite the postponement the host committee is taking the decision in stride and planning for the future. “You have a group of economic development officers planning this and they’re in the right frame of mind and looking at this as an opportunity.”

“We might look at holding the event in the spring all the time moving forward and that helps with the weather when it comes to anybody looking to attend the business expo” said Finlay.

An email went out Thursday to register participants and organizers are working with sponsors to see what they want to do and carry over their sponsorship to the spring show.

“We’re just busy trying to figure out the logistics so we can make it happen. We are looking to host the expo sometime in April.”