The National Grocers Association has pushed back the date of its upcoming 2021 trade show from March to May given the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NGA Show is produced and managed by events company Clarion Events in partnership with the association. The trade show had been planned for early March, but it will now take place from May 16-18 in Las Vegas, according to an association statement.

In addition, NGA will host a new virtual event in August 2021.

"We are grateful to our members and the entire food industry who have been on the frontlines and have remained open during the pandemic… As such, after many conversations and meetings with the Show Planning Committee, based on their resounding feedback, we agree that it is in the best interest of all our members to postpone the NGA Show to May," NGA CEO Greg Ferrara said.

"We understand that ensuring exhibitors and attendees feel safe returning to events will be a critical first step in delivering an exceptional experience for you," the organizers said on the show's website. "We are working as a collective industry to enable events and trade shows to open safely by following essential safety guidelines that adhere to the best medically backed scientific practices."

Multiple associations have moved events originally scheduled for the first half of 2021 back to summer or fall of that year in hopes that COVID-19 will be more or less contained by then. A vaccine likely won't be developed and widely distributed until next year.

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