N.Y. keeps calendar clear for Sept. 11

NEW YORK -- The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center will be all but empty. The banquet rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel won't echo with the usual dinner and speechmaking din. And tents for the city's fall fashion shows probably will go up later than normal.

Event calendars are wide open the week of Sept. 11 in New York, as planners have postponed or moved conventions, celebrations and trade shows in deference to the anniversary of the terror attacks.

"That period this year is very, unusually soft," said Jim Blauvelt, the Waldorf's executive director of catering. "People need that time to reflect and heal."

In years past, the Waldorf was booked that week with United Nations fetes, gala charity balls and fashion week celebrations.

At the Javits Center, the only show scheduled is an international flower exhibition that opens Thursday, Sept. 12. That's unusual for a venue that is otherwise nearly booked through the end of 2003, spokesman Mike Eisgrau said.

"If somebody wanted to book a show, we would book them," said Eisgrau. But, he said, show management companies are shying away from that week, in which Sept. 11 falls on a Wednesday.

Organizers for the Fall Fair for International Fine and Decorative Arts and the Gay Life Expo say they rescheduled their events because of the anniversary.

The fall fashion shows, held under tents in midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park, are expected to be pushed back from their original dates of Sept. 8-15. Organizers haven't set a firm date because they must coordinate with show planners in Europe.

Others not wanting to tread on emotions that week include MTV, which moved up its 2002 MTV Video Music Awards show at Radio City Music Hall from Sept. 5 to Aug. 29.

Paul Wilmot said his public relations firm postponed the New York launch of pop star Jennifer Lopez's first perfume that week.

"I'm recommending that clients do nothing, absolutely nothing, that week," Wilmot said. "It may be different in other parts of the country, but in New York it'll be a time to be with friends and family."

Although plans for the anniversary are still being put together in the city, memorial events are likely to dominate the week.

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