After giving the matter serious thought and careful consideration I made the difficult decision to cancel the October 2020 NEAR-Fest. As members of the Deerfield Fair Ass?n Ben and I attended the special meeting in June to decide whether to cancel the 2020 Fair. One of the main concerns was people coming from ?away?. It was one of the factors in my decision. Another was the thought that maintaining a six-foot separation, especially in the flea market would be impossible to enforce. Additionally, our age group is the most vulnerable to this disease and has the highest mortality rate, a fact that is impossible to ignore.
Additionally many people and exhibitors told me that would not attend NEAR-Fest in October if it were held because of Coronavirus concerns.
I also consulted with my management team. Every one agreed that the event should be cancelled due to these concerns.
We are now planning NEAR-Fest XXIX on April 30 and May 1 2021. However there is no way of knowing how this pandemic will play out in the next six months. Should conditions warrant it at that point in time and I feel that there is a significant health risk to my management team, our exhibitors, our attendees as well as the fairgrounds staff and townspeople I will do whatever I have to do in order to keep everybody safe.
We are all disappointed and deeply saddened that the schedule for the coming weekend will be empty. However we are consoled by the thought that we WILL return to Deerfield and when we do it will be bigger and better than ever. As of now (October 9th 2020). That will take place on Friday April 30th, 2021!
73,
Mister Mike, W1RC
PS: The car show and the horse shows are held at the discretion of the DFA Directors. I am sure they are in compliance with the NH health department guidelines.
