POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — One of the highly popular festivals in the state, the Mothman Festival in Mason County, has been canceled due to COVID-19.
Organizers said in a Facebook post on Thursday, “Due to many unknown factors and the guidelines for fairs and festivals now set forth by the state of West Virginia because of COVID 19, we are postponing Mothman Festival 2020.”
The event, that commemorates the 1966 Point Pleasant Mothman sighting that gave birth to the infamous red-eyed winged legend, had been scheduled for Sept. 19 and 20.
The restrictions in place would affect the guest speakers, bus tours, hayride, vendor space, and traffic and pedestrian flow in a negative way, organizers said.
“This is the last thing we wanted to do,” the Facebook post said. “The state guidelines would be tough for the crowds of our size. Instead of the Mothman festival being what it is and what we love, we feel the event would be subpar and lackluster to what has been built over the last 18 years.”
Plans have started for the Mothman Festival in 2021 on Sept 18th and 19th and organizers promise a large 20th-anniversary celebration.