A delayed toast to 25

For the first time since 1996, the annual Steinley Cup Microbrew and Competition will not take place in Saratoga. The competition, which would have celebrated its 25th year this summer, is just another seasonal event that has fallen victim to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Leanna Jones, Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce (S/PVCC) CEO, stated that the decision was a hard one for the S/PVCC Board of Directors.

“It was not an easy ‘no’ by any means. They went back and forth trying to share every idea in the book trying to make it possible,” said Jones. “For the well being of the community and the chamber, it just had to be a no.”

It was not for lack of trying on Jones’ part, however, as she applied for a variance through Carbon County Public Health and Carbon County Health Officer Wayne Couch.

“The process for applying for a variance, it was really easy. It was just a questionnaire of where’s the event, what’s it going to be, what precautions do you have in place, and really just a detailed event description. I sent all of that over,” Jones said. “As far as what we were going to do, we were going to do ample signage at entry and all the ads and Facebook posts. Any kind of marketing, it would be your typical COVID statement that we’re all used to.”

The event would have also included ample portable facilities, wash stations, and gloves and masks for volunteers. Nearly six weeks after she sent her variance to Couch and public health, she finally received a response in the form of questions on the logistics of the event. This included questions on how the chili competition would operate and how the microbrew would be served.

“Then, again, complete silence for two weeks,” said Jones. “Thankfully, (Commissioner) Sue Jones reached out to Amanda and I got a response two days later and they said it would be approved ‘if’.”

It was a big “if”. The event, which normally sees about 700 attendees, would have to be reduced to 350. Additionally, there would need to be a volunteer for each entry in the chili competition for serving—Jones had one volunteer—and dedicated volunteers for the cleaning of the portable facilities. In terms of serving the beer, the initial recommendation from Carbon County Public Health was for disposable cups.

“That would be 28,000 cups based on my estimates of how many pours each person gets,” Jones said. “The waste alone on that was just astronomical.”

Additionally, every volunteer—including the board of directors and Jones herself—and every vendor would be required to have their temperature checked and logged and would need to wear masks and gloves throughout the event. While the reduction in attendees would already turn the event from a fundraiser into a financial challenge for the Chamber of Commerce, the added cost of masks and gloves for all volunteers and vendors made it even more so.

According to Jones, however, despite the cancellation of Steinley Cup and the other events throughout the summer, the S/PVCC is not far off from where they were the year before. A golf tournament held earlier this year helped defray that financial hit. Also, while the event has often served as an economic boon for the community, out-of-state visitors with cabin fever have done plenty to help local business.

While the financials were a deciding factor, even more so was the concern from the board of directors that the event could be responsible for an increase in COVID cases in the Valley.

“When the board went back and they did their discussion, included with their vote, of course the budget and the financials were part of it but a lot of it was more about the health concern of throwing an event like that,” said Jones.

The event isn’t cancelled, per se, but rather rescheduled for 2021. With this being the 25th year of the event, Jones wants to go big for next year.

“The 25th annual anything is a big deal, so I think next year we can kind of go above and beyond and do something a little extra,” Jones said. “Especially since we skipped a year.”