The majority of fairs across the country have been cancelling this year’s events due to the COVID19 virus. Many fall fairs across Georgia have announced cancellations plans including the Georgia Mountain Fair, Gwinnett County Fair, Gilmer County Fair, Chattooga County Fair, Chattahoochee Mountain Fair and many others. That list will continue to grow as event dates near. The Northwest Georgia Regional Fair in Calhoun has waited to determine if they can continue with their traditional September dates. Being six weeks away from set up they had to decide and have joined the list of cancellations.
The fair scheduled for September 11-19 featuring north Georgia’s own Peachtree Rides, livestock and agricultural shows, blue ribbon competitions, pageants and numerous vendors will not be held this year.
“We have been closely watching the rise in hospitalizations in the area and continue to see an upward trend. Our area hospitalizations are at their highest since the beginning of the virus. We simply cannot risk the health of our community at this time, so in that interest we have decided to cancel the event for the September dates.” stated Bud Owens, president of the Cherokee Capital Fair Association which produces the annual event.
The spokesperson also stated “This was difficult but we do not want our volunteers, workers or community members to get sick due to our decisions. We will watch closely and should hospitalizations dramatically decrease and the spread slow we may reconsider holding an event in early November. It is a possibility but we will have to wait and see.”