For three months in 2020— the Owensboro Convention Center had no events — until the Pigtails and Cowlicks consignment sale put life back into the empty building at the end of June — and they are returning for a third time during the pandemic — on Friday and Saturday.

With the virus still a real concern -- in order to make the building safer for patrons -- general manager Laura Alexander, says they have implemented many new protocols.

"We have three different entrances to the building --- one is an entrance for people to come in -- a totally separate one for people to exit as they leave," she said. "And then of course the big one is constant, frequent cleaning of the space -- in addition to having hand sanitizer readily available."

People must also provide their name and information in case contact tracing is required

Capacity is also still restricted at 60 percent.

But because they have so much space -- they are able to spread people out. And while it is exciting to have customers back and the facility busting, Alexander says she knows it will take a while for things to really bounce back.

"I feel like people are going to slowly start coming back -- it's going to take probably a good two to three years for things to go back to what we consider normal or pre-pandemic levels," she said. "But you will see that events are returning -- I just think attendance will be a little smaller for some of those events and then again -- people will just start gradually coming back and feel more confident in everything in life."

And while Friday after Five was canceled last year — it will be able to resume this may with new safety rules.