Shenandoah County Fair reluctantly cancels concerts for 2020 fair

IMMEDIATE ATTENTION: PRESS RELEASE

June 23, 2020

Shenandoah County Fair reluctantly cancels concerts for 2020 fair.

The Governor of Virginia has released a description of Phase 3 restrictions for Virginian’s to follow with no target date or description of a Phase 4 plan. With that, the Shenandoah County Fair Association (SCFA) Board has had to make the difficult decision to cancel their scheduled concerts of the Little River Band, Jo Dee Messina, and Mercy Me for this year’s Fair.

“The current virus pandemic and its’ effect all across the country has taken a huge toll on the Fair Industry”, stated Tom Eshelman, the SCFA General Manager, “While the 2020 Shenandoah County Fair is still trying to moving forward, the Phase 3 capped attendance and social distancing guidelines for outdoor concerts are just not achievable and unfortunately we do not have the luxury of waiting to discover when things may open up”.

The SCFA Board voted unanimously on June 10th to continue forward with the 2020 Shenandoah County Fair, which is scheduled to be held Friday, August 28th through Saturday, September 5th. The Board’s decision was based on the continued recovery throughout the State of Virginia, and an eventual lifting of restrictions by Governor Northam. “The Board recognized, that when agreeing to move forward with the Fair, there would be some aspects that would probably not happen for this year”, added Eshelman, “Unfortunately, concerts has become the first victim to those aspects. The Mercy Me concert ticket sales alone were on track to draw over 4000 attendees. It seems that we face new challenges daily, so we keep adjusting and trying our level best to still put on a great Fair.”

All concert tickets purchased to date will be electronically refunded within the next 48 hours. No action needs to be taken by ticket holders for these shows. In addition, plans are underway for a revamping of year’s Fair schedule including Motorsports events which will be aligned to fit required guidelines.

The SCFA Board plans on instituting safe practices throughout the Fairgrounds with an increased investment in sanitizing efforts and the placement of guidelines regarding food service, exhibits, and rides. Regarding the 2021 Fair, the SCFA hopes to have this year’s scheduled entertainers back for next year.

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