×

Canceling the fair is the right thing to do

EDITOR:

The National Cherry Festival, a hallmark summer festival since 1925, has been cancelled this year. The Traverse City Film Festival, an annual film festival held at the end of July in Traverse City, created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America’s few indigenous art forms — the cinema.” Is also cancelled. The Navy’s Blue Angels air aerobatics team’s annual visit to the Cherry Festival is also cancelled. The Summerfest, an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin and first held in 1968 is also cancelled this year. German Fest, Irish Fest, Italian Fest and those other wonderful ethnic festivals have been cancelled in Milwaukee this year. The Wisconsin State Fair is also cancelled as is the Waukesha County Fair. Air traffic controllers from around the country volunteer their extra eyes and ears for the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh each year, which was established in 1953. It’s reported to be the largest in the world and pilots and air enthusiasts come from all over the world to participate and watch the shows. But, it too is cancelled this year. For you music fans, the Stadium Tour featuring Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett won’t be touring this year as they cancelled for 2020. So have James Taylor and Jackson Browne, Kenny Chesney, Kiss, Bob Dylan, The Black Keys, Journey, and the Dave Matthews Band just to name a few. And, these Michigan events are also cancelled this year: The National Trout Festival, Kalkaska, The Michigan Youth Arts Festival, Kalamazoo, The Festival of the Arts, Grand Rapids, The North American International Auto Show, Detroit, The Ann Arbor Summer Festival,  The Hiawatha Music Festival, Marquette, The Ann Arbor Art Fair, and The Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. These events bring massive crowds each year, but the COVID-19 has changed this.

But here in Delta County, our community leaders have decided to let the U.P. State Fair go on as if nothing is wrong. Cancelling these events is a difficult choice for the event organizers and sponsors to make for sure. But, in trying times, maturity, common sense, reality based decisions must prevail. COVID-19 is still out there. Canceling the fair is the right thing to do. It can be done, it’s attitudes that prevent it.

Gerry Niedermaier

Gladstone

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today