Town of Massena cancels two big Fishing League Worldwide tournaments

MASSENA -- The Town of Massena and Fishing League Worldwide are canceling two major FLW tournaments that were to have been held in Massena this summer.

The Toyota Series 2020 Tournament (July 9 to 13) and Pro Circuit Championship (Aug. 24 to 29) are both canceled.

In a news release announcing the cancelations, town officials said “Governor Cuomo has set very strict standards for personal safety and health, The Town Board of Massena agrees with the procedures in place and we do not want to see a spike in our community.”

“The decision to require quarantine of the ‘out of area tournament staff and visitors’ is both impractical and not likely to occur, given the proposed tournament schedule and the nature of fishing tournaments,” Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy said in a prepared statement. “While we are eager to bring these tournaments to the North Country, we need to be mindful of the impact that a resurgence of the pandemic would have on the communities of Upstate New York. We all are excited to experience events like the celebrations held last year at the Massena Intake and the Massena Town Beach. However, we are unwilling to take the chance of bringing COVID to our community. Upon consideration of all the factors currently in play, we understand the decision of the tournament promoters to terminate their scheduled tournaments for 2020 in New York State. We eagerly anticipate their return to New York in 2021 and in the future.”

“We are disappointed to learn that our tournaments will not go forward due to the pandemic, but with all the uncertainties surrounding COVID and how New York State is dealing with it, we are unwilling to take chances with our communities’ health,” Don Meissner, Massena’s tournament director, said in a prepared statement. “We want to see these events come back to Massena in a big way and we remain fully committed to hosting all of these great events for a full schedule of angling events in 2021.”