The party canceled an event that was planned at the Red Deer Hotel after 15,000 people registered wanting to attend and travel to the city.

The hopes of Red Deer’s restaurants, hotels, and businesses for economic boost were dashed on Wednesday when the Conservative Party canceled a leadership in-person meeting event.

The party last reported that more than 15,000 members had registered to travel to Red Deer to vote on April 9 on Premier Jason Kenney's leadership.

The party's board voted Tuesday night to move its planned special general meeting online and to hold the leadership review vote by mail ballot accessible to all members — an approach the party initially rejected.

Bobby Scott, the head server at All Greek to Me, a Red Deer company restaurant, said, "It is very frustrating." The Gaetz Avenue project is two buildings away from the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel and Conference Centre, where the meeting was scheduled to be held.

Scott said at the restaurant, staff started to get excited when they heard that 3,000 or more people would come to town for the meeting.

He said thousands of people looking for a place to stay, have lunch, or enjoy a drink would be a blessing for the city and its hospitality industry.

After two years of recurring and intermittent pandemic restrictions, and restaurant patrons’ worries about quarantine, local businesses needed to hear such news.

Andre Lemos, owner of Las Palmeras restaurant, said he was used to disappointment. Due to rising and falling COVID-19 cases, with people planning events and then canceling them.

However, he asked all staff to be present on the weekend of April 9, and he expected a setback in the plan by party members.

Red Deer businesses also suffered disappointment last December when the International Ice Hockey Federation canceled the World Junior Hockey Championship due to rising COVID-19 cases among players.

Lemos said he was also concerned about the planned gathering, that protesters might come to the city. He said his business still takes pandemic precautions, like spacing tables apart and doing additional cleaning.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair