MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Mo. – The Montgomery County Fair Board announced this summer’s fair has been cancelled.

Here is the information released by the board…

After many, many hours of discussion, careful thought and consideration, it is with an extremely heavy heart that the Montgomery County Fair Board announce that we have decided to cancel the 2020 Montgomery County Fair. Like many of you, we are also disappointed and understand this may not be the most popular decision. However, due to the constraints of social distancing and other COVID-19 related rules and regulations, there was not a successful way to have our fair while also keeping the safety and well-being of our visitors, volunteers, and entertainers in mind.

Again, we are very sorry to make this announcement and we truly hope everyone understands that this is the best decision our board could make with the information that it has gathered and discussed. We hope that you will continue to support our small-town fair, as we shift our focus to many projects needed done on the grounds and start planning to make the 2021 Montgomery County Fair, the best one yet! Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions or concerns that you may have, and we will do our very best to get you an answer about these unprecedented times.

Additional Information:

• All 2020 Season Passes will be good for the 2021 Montgomery County Fair
• Any livestock show/sale participant that was on their last year of eligibility, we will be making a change to the rules and they will be eligible to show and sell in 2021

Anticipated Frequently Asked Questions:

• This could put us on the map, how can you cancel with the potential of huge crowds?

o This is a double-edged sword – Is there potential for HUGE crowds? Absolutely! Is there potential for a local outbreak and our crowds just do not show up? Absolutely! The truth of the matter is, no one knows. We must try to be as responsible as possible to keep the fair alive for years to come. 

• After the polls great results, how can you decide to cancel the fair?

o There is more to this than meets the eye…While the results of the Polls were positive, what our Facebook fans did not see was the personal messages, the e-mails, the concerns or the fact that only about 10% of people that clicked on those polls actually voted. This left a question as to how many people would come out to support the Montgomery County Fair 

• Why can’t we just let the ones come that are comfortable and if they don’t want to, then they don’t have to?

o This is a concern for us as well. Sure, we could attempt to take temperatures at the gate, require masks, etc., but if the crowds do not show up, then we can’t pay the bills.

• I just don’t understand, there’s so much potential, how can you cancel the fair?

o There are many layers to our decision. We are only a board of 14 people, who work tirelessly to pull off a week worth of events.

Volunteers – Every year we struggle to find enough help, this year we would need even more help to keep up with the additional cleaning procedures. Unfortunately, after talking to many of our volunteer groups, we just won’t have the manpower. And we would never force a group to volunteer if they are not comfortable.

 Food Stand – Can we even get enough food and supplies? It was going to take many, many trips to Sam’s to get enough supplies for sure, and we were having trouble getting an answer if we could get enough meat. In addition, with the extreme change in food prices, are our visitors going to pay $6 for a hamburger? Or what about the food line, where our visitors will have to stand 6’ apart, can you imagine that line on Tuesday night or Friday night? The line would be out the gates!

 Specific events – Family Fun Center, Senior Citizens Day, Inflatables – we were just not comfortable with those events and how to have them successfully. What about the livestock auction? How do we cram hundreds of people in a livestock arena for a sale in 100-degree weather, while attempting to keep them distanced? Its just not possible.

 Health and Well-Being – The ultimate decision maker. We are all local citizens, we all have families, friends, loved ones in this community. We would never want to do something intentionally that could potentially harm the safety and well-being of our fair fans. The fact of the matter is, we are in the middle of a pandemic, that no one knows when or how it will change. We couldn’t make the decision to put a potential great financial income over the health of our community.

 We thank everyone, our community, our supporters, our volunteers and everyone that has helped up along the way. We are the Montgomery County Fair because of you. We hope that you will continue to support us and look forward to the 2021 fair as much as we do!