For the third consecutive year the Australian National Corvette Convention has been cancelled. The uncertainty caused by the onset of the Omicron strain of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lack of registrations for the event, many wanting to wait until the last minute to sign-up. Consequently, the Corvettes of Canberra club was unwilling to commit to the cost of all the venues, merchandise, entertainment and everything else that makes up the Nationals event. As would apply to all other clubs, Corvettes of Canberra could not afford to risk the potential financial loss their club would be subject to should the event draw only a small attendance or worse still, had to be cancelled at the last minute.
The last Corvette Nationals held in Australia was the Corvettes of Queensland’s Nationals held on the Gold Coast in 2019. The 2020 event was to be hosted by the Corvette Club of South Australia, but this event had to be cancelled quite late, causing a loss of money to the club and obviously the waste of a huge amount of planning and preparation. CCSA declined an offer to try again in 2021, not wishing to go through the whole exercise again, and like everyone else, not certain how long it would take for the pandemic to diminish. Their fears proved to be well founded.
The hosting of the 2023 Nationals has now been passed on to the Victorian clubs who have now been planning the event for the past two years. Planning is well advanced on the Victorian Nationals with many of the venue bookings already in place and sponsorship proposals being finalised. Three Corvette clubs are involved in hosting the 2023 Nationals headed by Corvettes of Melbourne, with support coming from Vic Vettes and Surfcoast Corvettes.
The hosting of the 2021 Nationals was then passed on to Corvettes of Canberra. As the pandemic was still continuing stubbornly, Canberra suffered the same fate as South Australia, although they made their decision to cancel earlier than the CCSA. Thinking the pandemic was sure to subside over the next 12 months, Corvettes of Canberra decided to carry over their plans to 2022. But no one was counting on the omicron variant to appear and totally change the whole equation.
Details of the next year’s Nationals are traditionally presented at the end of the current event. Victoria was due to present their plans at Easter 2022, on the last evening of the Canberra Nationals. The timing of the presentation will remain the same. The 2023 Nationals plans will be shared with all the official Australian Corvette Clubs and with all Corvette enthusiasts via this website and other social media.