CROWN POINT, Ind. — For Thomas Lump and the other members of the Lake County Fair Board, there was no easy choice.
“Believe me, it has been very painful,” said Lump, president of the fair board, in his letter announcing the cancellation of the 2020 Lake County Fair.
“Painful decisions have had to be made by many people, including the Lake County Fair Board,” Lump said.
The announcement was made May 22, and several more county fair boards also have canceled their 2020 fairs since then.
“There are so many moving parts to all of this, it’s impossible to continue our plan for 2020. Many health and safety requirements are simply impossible for us to achieve at this time,” Lump said.
He said in the letter that the fair board was cognizant of the responsibility it has for the health and safety of not only exhibitors and visitors to the fair, but department superintendents, workers, volunteers and carnival workers.
The Lake County Fair was scheduled to run Aug. 2-11. The 2021 fair is scheduled for Aug. 6-15.
The fair’s social media director is working to boost business — and get fairgoers their favorite fair foods — by reaching out to the fair’s food vendors and tagging them and their appearances throughout Indiana.
Another canceled county fair also recognized the need for guests to console themselves, in lieu of a fair, with their fair food cravings.
The LaPorte County Fair hosted a fair food drive-through June 6-7 at the fairgrounds, featuring some of the fair’s regular food vendors.
The LaPorte fair board announced its cancellation decision May 29. The LaPorte County Fair would have marked its 174th year of the fair this year.
“Although an extremely difficult decision, the board decided that cancelling this year’s fair was in the best interests of all those involved,” said Don Stoner, fair manager.
Even as the state moves toward reopening businesses and other services closed due to COVID-19 quarantines and social distancing, fair boards struggle with how their fair attendance will be impacted and with concerns about the virus itself.
“Our priority is the safety of all of those involved in making our fair great. After reviewing federal, state and local guidelines, and knowing how quickly and easily the COVID-19 virus spreads in large groups of people, the board did not feel it would be possible or prudent to have the fair at this time. This is due in large part to the uncertainty around planning for large gatherings and ensuring proper implementation of COVID-19 safety protocols,” said Steve Mrozinski, president of the LaPorte County Agricultural Association board of directors.
Stoner said fair planners already are looking ahead to next year’s anniversary event.
“This will allow us to focus our efforts on 2021 and what will still be the 175th year of the La Porte County Fair. The fair board will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the 175th fair will be one of the best,” Stoner said.
The Newton County Pun’kin Vine Fair became a more recent casualty of the COVID-19 consequences as the board announced on June 3 that the 2020 event was canceled.
“We feel that the risks are too high at this uncertain time to continue as we had planned,” the board said in a statement on June 3.
The Newton board also pointed out one factor that boards are considering — their financial situation.
“As we debated this difficult decision, the fair board members contemplated the community’s safety and the fair association’s financial stability,” the board said.
The board announced that it is still hoping to have a live 4-H show that is closed to the general public. The board said they are awaiting approval of a safety plan from Purdue Extension.
On May 29, the board of the Porter County Fair announced that its 2020 fair was canceled. Board members pointed out that they, too, would miss the fair as an annual staple in their summer calendar.
“We are also mourning the loss of our favorite 10 days of summer and missing the friendships that will have to be put on hold until next year,” the board said in announcing the cancellation of the 2020 fair.