Sedgwick County Fair organizers get pushback after announcing cancellation of 2020 event
The board of the Sedgwick County Fair, a longtime summer tradition that happens each July in Cheney, have been facing some pushback from angry would-be participants and attendees since announcing on Tuesday evening that the 2020 event would be canceled.
And the pushback, says board vice president Marti Johnson, in part illustrates one of the reasons the board felt it had to make the decision.
After the announcement was made on Tuesday via Facebook, the post generated lots of angry comments from people accusing organizers of making the decision too soon and of overplaying coronavirus concerns. Others groused that their kids had already bought animals for the 4-H show and would be out money.
“People need to get over it and move on,” one commenter said. “There is absolutely no reason to cancel the fair.”
Johnson replied in a terse second post on Wednesday morning, specifically addressing those upset about the cancellation of the 4-H livestock show and reminding them that the show was put on by the Sedgwick County Extension Office and only hosted by the fair.
“If the 4-H Show is your main concern, you might muster a thoughtful sense of cooperation and kindness and reach out to the Extension office to see how you can be part of their process,” she said in the second post.
On Wednesday morning, Johnson said that among the many reasons the board made its decision was the sense that even if it tried to proceed with additional safety measures, many attendees would ignore them.
“The reality is if we put safety procedures in place, there’s no way to enforce them, and there’s a level of belligerence in the community right now that frankly we didn’t have the means to deal with,” she said.
This year’s fair was scheduled for July 8-11 on the fairgrounds in Cheney, and the schedule — which includes live music, carnival rides and 4-H competitions — had already been posted on the fair’s website. About 30,000 people usually attend each year.
The board got together Tuesday evening for a socially distanced meeting, Johnson said, and started the meeting trying to figure out how it could make the fair happen.
But as the discussion progressed, they realized it wasn’t possible, she said. Organizers had consulted with the Sedgwick County Commission, the governor’s office, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and other organizations before starting their discussion.
“There are so many unknowns,” she said. “There were too many risk factors we couldn’t control. We are at the mercy of the weather, the economy and everything else, and if by July the number of COVID cases has spiked and the governor decides to go back a step, which she certainly could do, then we’ve spent the money and we can’t recover. And then we don’t have a fair in 2021.”
The fair, which started in 1937, has been canceled before. During World War II, organizers skipped the fair for three years, Johnson said.
The Sedgwick County Extension office has received many calls since the fair’s announcement, said Jennifer Brantley, director. It plans to send out a survey to 4H families asking what they think “the next best steps” are, she said.
Options could include a separate 4-H show, a virtual show or just scrapping this year’s show and starting to prepare for next year.
“It’s a challenge because people have been preparing for this moment,” Brantley said. “There’s been so many letdowns and things canceled. But to ensure the safety of the whole lifespan of people who attend this fair, it’s probably best.”
The decision to cancel the fair was not an easy one, Johnson said, and she understand the disappointment. The board will work on making next year’s fair a good one.
“No one likes change,” she said. “Everybody wants it to go back to the way it was, and it’s not going to. The sooner you start adapting to new realities is probably for the better.”
People who already bought tickets to the fair will be contacted about refunds.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 12:02 PM.
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