Small Press Expo In Bethesda Canceled Over Coronavirus Concerns

BETHESDA, MD — The Small Press Expo, one of the largest festivals focused on comics art and the indie comics scene in the U.S., has been canceled for 2020. The event was originally scheduled for Sept. 12-13, at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.

After much deliberation over the past few months on whether to hold SPX2020 in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers this week decided to pull the plug on the event.

Warren Bernard, SPX’s executive director, said the decision came down to contractual issues and what local officials would allow now that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had laid out the specific criteria for reopening the state following its months-long closure due to the pandemic.

“Then all of a sudden we had the ability to contact the local government and say, 'OK, look, what's your ruling on this?’ he said. “Once they ruled that, ‘No, you're not going to hold an event with 3,000 or 4,000 people in Montgomery County,’ then we could go to the Marriott and say, ‘OK Marriott, we're not canceling. Montgomery County is canceling us,’ and that got rid of that contractual issue. So, with no venue and just being completely unable to have a large gathering at all in the county, there's just no way that it could happen.”

Even if SPX were allowed to go on, organizers would still have to figure out how to maintain social distancing at the venue, something that Bernard said would be extremely difficult to do.

“My tables are only six-foot wide,” he said. “Do I have every other table filled? Can I even make money on that? There are all the logistical things that we're going to forget for a minute our desire, our ability to go ahead and hold it under these extraordinary circumstances.”

In addition, many vendors, guests, and attendees would likely be risk-averse to visiting the Washington, D.C. area, which is still a hot spot for COVID-19 infections.

“If you're traveling from United States to England, you're in a mandatory 14-day quarantine, and people coming into the United States are going to be afraid to come in here because of how crazy the COVID-19 stuff is,” Bernard said, adding that some overseas guests have already told him they would not be attending SPX20.

Thanks to Montgomery County’s ruling, the organizers have not lost any money by cancelling the event or their contract with the venue.

"One of the things we did was we purposely did not send out the link for people to go ahead and reserve their rooms,” Bernard said. “We didn't collect any money for tables. There were a number of things that we sat there, and it was like, ‘OK, how far can we go without making this logistically a big pain in the butt if we do decide to cancel?’”

While SPX20 will not be happening, Bernard did say the Ignatz Awards, the annual ceremony recognizing outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning, will still take place on Sept. 12, as an online ceremony. The submission deadline has been extended to June 19, and organizers are still exploring ways for people to vote digitally for their favorite comics and creators.

“If you have not submitted, there’s information out on the internet, where they can get ahold of me about how to submit digital copies for the judges,” Bernard said. “Judging, we’re going to get that underway. In terms of being able to come up for air about exactly how everything is going to work on a practical basis, four to six weeks, sometime early to mid-July is when I'd like to come up and let everybody know what's going to happen.”

Beyond the Ignatz Awards, Bernard said SPX could be hosting some online panels in the coming months, but that would all depend on the resources available. As an all-volunteer organization, it could be difficult to find someone with the the technical knowhow and time to pull it off.

"That's going to be the next thing that the executive committee is going to go ahead and deal with as to whether or not we have the ability to do it based on everybody's very busy schedule,” he said