The Wright County Fair Board has been monitoring the current conditions & information concerning the COVID-19 virus. Both the virus threat and the reaction by the government to the threat have created major considerations that all large events are having to work through.
The board had considered the data from all sources & acknowledges the many differing opinions of the scientific and medical communities. Conversations have been had with many partners & supporting agencies.
Many County Fairs as well as the State Fair have reached the conclusion that adhering to the CDC guidelines & executive orders would be a major challenge for any event our size. Obtaining the required supplies & PPE to equip and train the staff to assure that we could meet the requirements would also be a challenge. Requiring all staff & volunteers to properly wear the PPE and go through the process necessary to keep everyone safe and meet the regulations would increase the difficulty of their assigned tasks.
The events & interactions that make County Fairs the highlight of many people’s summers would be greatly different if not impossible for the Fairs to provide. Limiting numbers, social distancing, requiring face masks, opening without carnivals and the youth participation would create an environment that would not look like anything like the Fairs we normally attend & enjoy.
In addition to the above considerations, obtaining security for the fair would likely not be possible through normal law enforcement agencies. Finding the additional staff and volunteers to operate the Fair under these conditions would likely prove to not be possible.
All Fairs operate on thin budgets and opening in an environment of reduced attendance and availability of events and the attractions would not be a sound business or financial decision which could greatly affect the ability to provide a quality Fair in the future.
The 2020 Fair was to be the 150th Wright County Fair. The board has planned a celebration that would add many events and attractions to the Fair schedule.
Considering the above facts, opening the Fair would not live up to the standards we envision for the Wright County Fair especially for the planned 150th Fair celebration.
The Fair Board has made a difficult but calculated decision for the best interest of attendee safety & enjoyment, safety & comfort of the employees, exhibitors, vendors, volunteers, as well as the financial well-being of the Fair to avoid risks, fines & penalties to the Fair and possibly Wright County taxpayers. The 150th Wright County Fair for 2020 has been postponed to July 21-25, 2021.
In addition, the Wright County Fairgrounds is closed to any other events that cannot produce a plan to conform to the requirements in effect at the time of the event.
The board is undertaking many improvement projects this summer and are already making plans to come back stronger and better in 2021 and look forward to welcoming everyone back as we celebrate the 150th Wright County Fair.
We understand that many are affected by this decision. We will work with Wright County 4H to assure the 4-H members can exhibit their projects by providing facilities as needed.
We encourage everyone to support our local businesses, especially those who are so generous with sponsoring and advertising with our Fair. The local businesses need all our support right now, so please consider patronizing them to substitute the family fun as most of the large summer events are being canceled across the state.
#FAIRSTRONG
