NPGA moves 2021 Propane Expo to October

The National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) is moving the 2021 Southeastern Convention & International Propane Expo at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center from April to Oct. 18-20 due to uncertainties related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Photo: Sean Pavone/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

In order to minimize travel, NPGA is also planning to host its fall board meeting in Atlanta immediately following the 2021 show. Six months later, it will host the 2022 Propane Expo in Nashville, Tennessee.

NPGA Chairman Denis Gagne of Eastern Propane & Oil and Steve Kaminski, president and CEO of NPGA, made the announcement during the association’s virtual fall board meeting in September.

NPGA is hoping to return soon to in-person events – it will try to do just that at its 2021 winter board meeting in California. But moving the Propane Expo further into 2021 will help ensure the industry’s largest trade show can be held safely and successfully, even though it comes at the beginning of the winter heating season, according to the association.

With public health concerns and companies restricting travel, including the fact that 20 percent of Propane Expo attendees come from overseas, Kaminski says the association felt fortunate that it could “lift and shift” the event from April to October.

The decision, with input from the NPGA Executive Committee, the Conventions Committee and NPGA staff, was not made lightly, Kaminski says.

“While it means Expo comes at the start of winter heating season and the busiest month for many, and with only six months between Expo ’21 in Atlanta and Expo ’22 in Nashville, Oct. 18-20 of 2021 was the only set of dates free, and we worked very hard to get them,” he says.

The decision puts 2½ years between Propane Expos. The 2020 event, scheduled April 6-8 in Nashville, was canceled in March after President Donald Trump issued a national emergency to help combat the coronavirus. The last show was held in April 2019.