The following is a statement from The Stoughton Fair:
Recently, a State of Emergency was declared for Dane County until at least July 15, 2020. Multiple summer events in the area have been canceled and it is evident that the risk of community spread of COVID-19 will still exist through the summer.
The Stoughton Fair Association, Inc. Board of Directors assessed the risk to our exhibitors, their families, our volunteers, and the public as well as the uncertainty for social gatherings and the financial implications and determined that we are unable to host the 2020 Stoughton Fair scheduled for June 30th-July 5th, 2020.
Our youth exhibitors and fair traditions are very important to us, but nothing is more important than the health and safety of every patron that joins us at the Stoughton Fair. This consideration also extends to the Fair staff, carnival employees, food and commercial vendors, entertainment, dedicated volunteers and judges, and hard-working Chairs and Superintendents who make our Fair possible.
While the Stoughton Fair will be canceled this year, the Fair Board has determined that any youth exhibitor who is aging out of participation this year will be allowed to participate at the 2021 Stoughton Fair. This exception is only made for the 2021 Stoughton Fair under the Fair Rules. We expect you will join in the fun of our long standing tradition, The 4-H Olympics!
The Board of Directors is made up of many past exhibitors and 4-H parents. We realize the amount of time, money, and hard work many of these exhibitors have put into their projects. Some starting already last fall. We wanted to notify them as soon as we possibly could so they may change course. Unfortunately this means many kids that were planning on selling their meat animal projects at this fair or Dane County will no longer be able to do so. We encourage the community to search these kids out and see if you can work with them to stock your freezers and help these kids find the end result of a good meat animal project. Some money to pay for feed bills and to go toward next years project and/or college savings.
Sponsors are welcome to have this years donations rolled to 2021, refunded, or remained dedicated to supporting the Stoughton Fair through another year of costs. We will be in contact soon.
This Board has been faced with our share of challenges but nothing as hard as the decision to cancel our 97th annual fair. We hope to never be faced with this again. We would like to wish everyone the most enjoyable summer possible. Get outside as much as possible and stay healthy and safe. We look forward to seeing all of you next year.
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