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‘Heartbreaking’ decision

With uncertainties about COVID-19 lingering, fair is postponed until 2021

Photo by Deb Gau Stalls in the 4-H barns at the Lyon County Fairgrounds will stay empty this summer. Members of the Lyon County Fair Board voted Thursday night to postpone the fair until 2021, due to health and safety concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

MARSHALL — The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a lot of hard questions for organizing community events this year. Members of the Lyon County Fair Board struggled with those questions, too: How could the fair handle extra cleaning and sanitizing? How could you follow social distancing recommendations at the grandstand?

In the end, they had to make a tough call. On Thursday evening, the fair board voted unanimously to postpone the Lyon County Fair until next year, due to health and safety concerns.

“It’s heartbreaking for all of us on the board. It’s not an easy decision,” said fair board chairman Mark Sleiter.

“If COVID wasn’t here, we wouldn’t have this vote,” said board vice-chair Ashley Rialson.

The 2021 fair is still planned for the second full week of August, which would be Aug. 11-15.

Lyon County isn’t the only southwest Minnesota county holding off on a fair this year. Last week, both Yellow Medicine County and Kandiyohi County announced that they wouldn’t be holding fairs. Concerns over COVID-19 reached all the way to the Minnesota State Fair as well. The news that the 2020 State Fair was canceled also broke last week.

The decision to postpone the Lyon County Fair doesn’t necessarily mean a big financial loss, said fair board treasurer Bob Richards. Most of the year’s expenses actually come at fair time, he said.

At this point, Richards said, down payments for entertainment like bands have already been made for the 2020 fair. Some of those acts are already committed for the 2021 or 2022 fairs, he said.

At Thursday’s meeting, fair board members talked about some of the uncertainties that could affect the county fair this year. There was the loss of the State Fair, and concerns about how CDC guidelines could be implemented at the fair. A peak for COVID-19 cases in Minnesota is also projected to hit sometime this summer, they said. The county 4-H program also needed to know what the fair board decided soon.

“It’s a hard decision all around,” Sleiter said. However, fair board members said they were looking ahead to next year’s fair. “We want to thank the Lyon County commissioners for all their support,” he said.

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