MARSHALL COUNTY, W.Va. — The countdown was on for the 2020 Marshall County Fair, the 72nd annual event that was supposed to start this Sunday in Moundsville, before Governor Jim Justice again called off all fairs and festivals in West Virginia, a step back for pandemic reopenings.
Governor Justice’s announcement came Monday as COVID-19 cases climbed statewide.
On Tuesday, Beth Bertram, president of the Marshall County Fair, was working to cancel scheduled fair entertainers and vendors ahead of what was supposed to be a full week of events in Moundsville running from July 19 to July 25.
“I wasn’t surprised really with everything being shut down. I wish it had happened a little sooner. It would have saved us a little bit of a problem, but we’ll work through it,” Bertram said of the announcement.
“That’s just 2020.”
Cancellations were also announced Monday for the Cabell County Fair, with exceptions for livestock, 4-H and FFA events, along with the West Virginia Honey Festival and Harvest Moon Festival in Wood County and Bluefield’s Lemonade Days and Lemonade Festival.
Other upcoming fairs and festivals were called off weeks ago, including the State Fair of West Virginia which is usually held each August in Greenbrier County.
Before Governor Justice’s Monday announcement, fairs and festivals were permitted beginning on July 1 under state guidelines established to limit coronavirus spread.
Bertram said they had planned to hold the Marshall County Fair utilizing those guidelines.
“We were working hard. We had worked with the (Marshall County) Health Department. They had given us guidance on what we needed to do,” she said.
“Anytime you have a group of people together, there’s risk and we were very hopeful that everything would work out. We were following what we had been told to do.”
Like many other county fairs in West Virginia, the Marshall County Fair typically includes truck pulls, pageants, livestock shows, carnival rides and stage entertainment.
Bertram said the losses for the Marshall County Fair because of the late cancellation could be substantial.
“We haven’t figured that out yet. We’ll lose a good amount, I think, because of things we had committed, things we had purchased ahead of time to have ready for next week. We haven’t figured out exactly how much yet,” Bertram said.
“Sometimes you just have to look for the best and do the best you can with it and this is the way it is, so we might as well deal with it.”