Submitted Photo Several county fairs in the region have already made the decision to cancel their events for this summer due to concerns over coronavirus. Others may soon follow.

The thrill of carnival rides, grooming of prized livestock, crowds for headline entertainers and the alluring aroma of fair food won’t be happening this summer at many locations throughout the region. One by one popular county fairs are being canceled due to coronavirus concerns.

“It’s sad for kids, sad for 4-H and sad for everybody,” said Joleen Swang, president of the Wells County Fair Board.

The Wells County Fair was scheduled for June 11-14 in Fessenden. The fair has been a summertime attraction for more than 100 years, but never before has a pandemic caused a cancellation. Fair volunteers, many in the age group over 65 that is considered the most vulnerable to severe complications from coronavirus, remained uncertain if they were willing to risk exposure to coronavirus in the crowded environment of a fair.

“We knew there were some that were having second thoughts.” said Swang. “For the safety of people and ourselves, we felt it was a good decision to cancel.”

The availability of volunteers was just one item of consideration for the Wells County Fair Board. They had already moved their fair up two weeks to insure they’d get carnival rides, but much uncertainty remained over whether or not a traveling carnival, based in Texas, would even be able to come to North Dakota in early June. Then there’s the unanswered question of how the coronavirus pandemic would affect attendance.

Other county fairs that have canceled for this year include the Bottineau County Fair which, 130 years old, boasts being the “oldest county fair in North Dakota.”

The Bottineau County Fair Board issued a statement regarding the cancellation of the June 11-14 event:

“Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, at this time we don’t feel that it is a wide decision to proceed with a date in June. We always make all our decisions with the safety of our fairgoers in mind. To our faithful fairgoers, vendors, and community please be watching for upcoming information regarding a Fall Event.”

The McLean County Fair set for June 12-14 in Underwood and the McKenzie County Fair scheduled for June 18-20 in Watford City made decisions this past week to cancel.

“We had a good fair lined up and we had our plan to safely implement social distancing but we just don’t have the manpower to do it all,” said Diane Schell, McLean County Fair Board. “We had the Thomas Carnival out of Texas and they are still trying to work everything out.”

Schell said entertainers lined up for the fair were fine with the decision to cancel.

“They realize it’s nobody’s fault,” said Schell. “We’re moving all the contracts over to 2021.”

Don Jelsing, president of the Pierce County Fair in Rugby, said his board will meet next Friday to “decided if we can go with this or not.”

“There’s a bunch of factors that will enter into this that are beyond our control,” explained Jelsing. “The carnival is the biggest part of the fair and they haven’t made up their mind yet if they can come up from Texas. They don’t have the word if they can cross state lines. We’re certainly hoping we can have it but a lot of things have to happen. No matter what decision we make it will be the wrong one for some people.”

Additionally, said Jelsing, 4-H had yet to decide on participation and there is the looming question of how many people will attend if the fair is held. Some fair managers think attendance would be down as much as 50%, a level that would mean a financial loss for most fairs.

As of Friday organizers of the Upper Missouri Valley Fair in Williston, set for June 24-28, were still planning as if the fair was going to be held.

A spokesperson for the North Dakota State Fair in Minot said Friday that, “as of right now we are still moving forward with the fair.” The State Fair is scheduled to be held July 17-25.