Message From the President of AACo Fair
Press Release
July 15, 2020
Anne Arundel County Fair Inc.
After the pandemic wave hit MD, in March and government mandates began we knew this would be a challenging year. The Anne Arundel County Fairs volunteer Board of Directors and membership had to learn new ways to communicate other than in person meetings. Much discussion went into not just canceling our spring fundraisers but the new ways this pandemic effected our business, budget, and purpose. Like all fair people do we had to rise to the challenge and adapt. Something every fair in this great nation has had to do.
At the July 14th board meeting. The Board of Directors made the difficult decision to cancel the traditional 2020 Anne Arundel County Fair. This was solely decided to protect our volunteers, our exhibitors, the citizens of our community, and those who work on the fairgrounds from possible exposure to this potentially deadly virus. A virtual exhibit will also be created for fair participants that would like to show off their projects. We encourage you to visit our web site at aacountyfair.org or like us on Face book for updates. The Halloween Happening haunted barn and hayride event in October has also been canceled for the same reasons. The full Anne Arundel County Fair showcase will again return in its entirety next year with the vaccine available, September 15 – 19th, 2021. We look forward to welcoming you there.
At that same Board meeting as a plan “B” to fair week it was also decided and approved to have a livestock invitational for regular fair exhibitors as several one time shows. These in and out shows will be following the state MDA released guidelines for livestock shows in Maryland. There will also still be a youth livestock auction on September 19th open to bidders only, whose details will now be worked out by the auction committee since the Fair Board has made its final decision. The shows are private one day events not open to the public, keeping with the guidelines. These shows will continue the agricultural education tradition that the Fair represents in 2020.
We would like to thank the hundreds of volunteers that assist in making our fair successful each year. We thank the exhibitors, vendors, carnival, emergency and government agencies for their patience and continued cooperation. We thank the visitors for their understanding and support knowing that we are all in this together and all get through this. Cannot wait to see you all coming through the gates September 15-19, 2021.
Stay healthy my friends.
John C. Kozenski Jr
Anne Arundel County Fair Inc president.