CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The 2020 Fair and Festival Season in West Virginia, typically packed with traditional events, will look much different in the time of COVID-19.
With residents being told to avoid crowds to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, many events scheduled for May and June and known to attract large groups of locals and visitors have already been canceled altogether or postponed until 2021.
“The hardest part about this whole thing is the uncertainty of it,” said Kelly Collins, CEO of the State Fair of West Virginia and president of the West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festivals.
“Nobody really knows what we’re going to look like a few months down the road and these festivals and fairs across our state are such impactful events for their communities.”
A stay-home order had been in effect for West Virginia since March 24.
As of Tuesday morning, the website for West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festival included the following announcements about 2020 events:
– 58th Annual Calhoun County Wood Festival postponed until 2021;
– Clendenin Homecoming Festival and all pageants canceled for 2020;
– Webster County Woodchopping Festival suspended for 2020 with the Elimination Dinner postponed and possibly set to be rescheduled;
– 79th West Virginia Strawberry Festival in Upshur County postponed to 2021;
– West Virginia Sweetheart Festival rescheduled for May 9.
Many festival and fair pageants were not happening as planned.
The list was being updated daily using submitted information.
Previously reported were new dates for the West Virginia Three Festival in Marion County, typically held in May, on June 11-13.
Earlier this week, Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival in Ohio County, slated for dates in July, was canceled
With such events, “That’s a huge impact for communities from an economical standpoint and a social impact as well,” Collins told MetroNews.
As of Tuesday, the State Fair of West Virginia was still scheduled to run from Aug. 13 to Aug. 22 in Fairlea.
“We have to plan as usual right now. We have so many contracts and so many things that have to be planned months in advance that we’re still working from home to make sure that the Fair’s ready to go,” Collins said.
Any cancellation decision, if necessary, she said, would probably come in June because of contractual obligations.
“We hope to open the gates (as planned in August). This is our 96th event and we’ve only had to cancel four times in history and that was for World War II.”