The Quiet Sounds of Summer

Today is another day in April, much like the last few weeks have been.  We hope all of you have been staying safe as we adjust to the current ever-changing situation in our worlds.  What doesn't change is that the vines don't care what's going on in the world for us....they are just starting to come back to life.

 

Much has changed since we officially took over the former Naylor facility on February 20, 2020.  It's crazy to think that only a month after signing documents on one of the most significant projects I have undertaken in my life would be eerily quiet.  All the plans that we had set in place to start ramping up this spring have suddenly changed.

As the situation with the current lockdown and soon re-opening of our state continues, I am working hard to understand how Allegro will transition back to normal as well.  Both the "how" and the "when" are extremely difficult and important issues for us.  We're used to sharing glasses of wine and stories and space with all of you, and now we're not sure what is safe.

We have been one of the fortunate businesses that was allowed to stay open and keep operating.  We were deemed "essential" due to being an agricultural manufacturer.  I'm sure you all would agree with me that wine is essential to life.  And we have been very fortunate that our (now smaller) staff have stepped up and are making sure that the vineyards are still being tended to, the wine is still getting bottled, and the cases are still getting shipped and delivered to you.

What has changed is that we cannot do the events that have been playing an ever-growing role in our business.  Our Wine Club Mixer will not be held next month, and we'll be doing curbside pickup and shipping (UPS and our Home Delivery program.)  We had to cancel a wedding fair, a library tasting, and numerous other social occasions.  We've had to end the tastings in our winery and other locations, and totally close our farmer's markets locations.

As for the next few months, my crystal ball is not working very well.  Sure, Pennsylvania will start to open back up again, hopefully as soon as we can safely.  But I do know that it's going to take a vaccine and herd immunity to get us to the point where we all feel comfortable and normal again.

That said, the chances of us being able to host large public events in the near future looks very slim, and with that I feel compelled to announce that Allegro will not be hosting a Summer Sounds Series this year, nor probably our Harvest Party or any of the other larger events we were hoping for (such as a Cider festival as well as other wine festivals.)  Most of these events require a minimum of 300 tickets sold to break even, and all of my sources are telling me that it will be a while before that will be allowed.  And even though the venue is outside, it would only be possible to have perhaps 75 people socially distancing responsibly under cover.

This is a tough decision for us as a lot of my financial forecasting and planning leading up the purchase of the former Naylor facility involved these type of events.  It will make it more difficult for us in the short run, but hopefully you all can support us until we all get back to normal at some point.

Thanks for reading through to this point, and thank you for supporting local businesses at this time.  We're all going to make it through this together.

Take care,

Carl