By Austin Rust-
As of press time, all but two of Adams County's upcoming annual fall festivals have been cancelled due to health, safety, and financial concerns amid the ongoing pandemic. The Manchester River Days festival, held in early August, and Seaman Fall Festival, held in September, are on hold at the present time, but it was announced in early June that the Peebles Old Timers Days Festival, Bentonville Harvest Festival, and Winchester Homecoming Festival will not be held this year.
'We cancelled (the Winchester Homecoming Festival) due to health and safety concerns, and financial reasons,' explained Patsy Roberts, the Winchester Homecoming Festival Committee President. 'We always get financial support from our small businesses, but we felt that we could not ask them for donations (this year), when they had been closed down for several months (due to COVID-19). I think health concerns were still the biggest reason, but it was also financial.'
'We are going to revisit things on Aug. 1, and we may do a festival on Saturday only,' Roberts added. 'There won't be inflatables, but we can do the tractor show, maybe some entertainment – it will be just a smaller version of the festival, I guess. That's what we're thinking right now, but we are just going to have to wait and see what the guidelines are in the next couple of months.'
Roberts noted that Winchester's Halloween Carnival and Visit from Santa Claus events may be held later this year, as well, in October and December, respectively, if the guidelines can be met.
'When they decided to cancel the Ohio State Fair, that kind of set a precedent for us as well,' she explained. 'It's too bad. I hate it. It's going to impact a lot of people not having these festivals. I don't think a lot of people realize that we have donated things to the community over the years. Right now, we can't do that, because it would put us in a financial bind. But we're planning on coming back next year, and maybe if things work out, we'll be able to go ahead and have those Halloween and Santa Claus events in October and December. We'll just have to wait and see.'
Marie Palmer, President of the Peebles Old Timers Days Festival Committee, explained that the committee met on Friday, June 5, and decided to cancel this year's Old Timers Days Festival.
'Basically, the small businesses have been shut down for months – they've lost their revenue. We always ask small businesses for their support, and (this year) they don't have it to give,' she said. 'That's what we need to pay for utilities and things that we have to have for the festival in order to put it on, so economically, we can't do it. That's one reason… another is the state restrictions.'
'We followed every festival and fair to see what they were doing, how they were working around it, and it's just not possible – we're not able to do that,' Palmer continued, noting that the festival relies on volunteers, and would not be able to continually clean its rides after use or enforce mass gathering limits. 'There's just so many things, plus, we don't know where we're going to be at in September. There were a lot of things that made it impossible for us to have a festival this year.'
'A lot of people don't realize how much time it takes to put the festival together,' Palmer added. 'As soon as it ends, we start all over. There's so much to do behind the scenes. It cannot be done in a couple of weeks.' Due to COVID-19, much of this work could not be done in early 2020.
'We may be able to have our car show,' Palmer said. 'We're not sure yet – we're going to look into that – but we were thinking we might be able to go ahead and do the car show. Old Timers Days began as a car show. Originally, it was only a car show, so we thought maybe we could at least do that.' The car show – typically held on Sunday, the last day of the festival – might have extended hours this year, Palmer explained, due to the lack of a parade and other events.
In conclusion, she noted that this will not be the first time the Peebles Old Timers Days Festival has been cancelled. In the early days of the festival, during the 60s, it was cancelled three times for various reasons. The festival has been managed since that time by the Peebles Lions Club.
'We will still look forward to next year. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal by then,' Palmer said.
It was also announced in early June that the Bentonville Harvest Festival, organized by Sue Naylor, will not be held this year due to health and safety concerns amid the pandemic.
In the same week, organizer JoAnn Hildebrand explained that the Manchester River Days (held in early August) are not yet cancelled, but remain on hold, pending advice from the local Health Department. The River Rat Poker Run and Duck Derby event will still be held this year.
The Seaman Fall Festival Committee planned to meet Tuesday, June 16 to decide on whether the village's festival (typically held in late September) will take place or not this year.
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