2020 HBMO Date Change

Posted on March 13, 2020 by hunterburtonopen

The Hunter Burton Memorial Open means so much to so many. We truly have the most amazing community held firm by players, sponsors, vendors, and supporters from across the country. Without each of you we would not be able to hold our annual event or continue to build our outreach program to make positive impacts in gaming communities.

With that said, we have been in constant communication as a foundation and continued to keep our finger on the pulse of the ever changing and ongoing COVID-19 situation. For weeks we have maintained a resolve to move forward with our annual event as planned. As you already know, the last 72 hours has presented a rapid change in both the spread of COVID-19 and the social response to help mitigate that spread. As we have said all along, the mental and physical well being of our HBMO community and family is our main priority.

After many hours of discussion about attendee safety, pressure from sponsors/vendors, and conversations with the convention center and hotel, we have come to the difficult decision to move our 2020 Hunter Burton Memorial Open to August 8^th & 9^th, 2020. Please understand this is the most difficult decision we have ever made as an organization and nobody is more disappointed than we are.

While the logistics are difficult, the plan is simple… We will hold the event as scheduled on August 8th and 9th in the same venue (The Hurst Conference Center.) While things may change for some details, at this time we intend on keeping as much the same as we possibly can.

We will be holding an MTG Arena Tournament (a mini HBMO so to speak) on March 28^th and 29^th with entry fees and prizes! It will be live streamed on the HBMO Twitch Channel. Details can be found on our website here: 2020 HBMO ARENA TOURNAMENT

Here are some important questions we have been asked and for clarity purposes we will outline them here:

Q: I pre-registered for the event… what do I do?!
A: Anyone who has pre-paid for entry into any event has the following options…
– Get a full refund by emailing HunterBurtonMO@gmail.com by April 5^th, 2020
– Stay entered in your event and attend on August 8^th & 9^th (you’ll have option to change later)
– Convert your entry into a donation for the charity

Q: What about my hotel room I booked?
A: The connected Hilton Hotel is refunding rooms or willing to transfer reservations to the August dates for you if you reach out to them in a timely manner.

Q: Why are you just now announcing this?
A: We have taken every precaution to not act hastily however the COVID-19 situation has constantly evolved. In the last 48 hours it became apparent that not postponing our event could be more detrimental than moving it to protect the safety of our community. We also wanted to have all future dates locked in, let all sponsors and vendors know and prepare our staff accordingly.

“Nobody takes the decision to move the 2020 HBMO harder than I do. Our team is small, our nonprofit is all volunteer based, and the number of people the decision impacts is great. Our number one priority however is being responsible and protecting the safety of our HBMO family. The bottom line is simply that this is the right thing to do for everyone involved. I personally want to say thank you for all of your support and that I look forward to seeing you in August!”
– Erin Giddings, Director of Operations

“I think it’s important to everyone involved, from players to judges, staff, vendors and coverage that everyone has peace of mind for their own safety and that of the public when it comes to this tournament. Lots of people tell me it’s their favorite event of the year, I know we can live up to that this August, and it has become clear we couldn’t achieve that this March. Thanks again to everyone involved and I can’t wait to have the best Texas Magic tournament this summer!”
– Joe Klopchic, Tournament Operations Organizer