LA County Fair Cancelled Again As Pandemic Enters Second Year

POMONA, CA — The 2021 L.A. County Fair became the latest casualty of the pandemic and the slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles County Tuesday.

Acknowledging the threat of emerging variants of the virus and the county's inability to get a majority of the population inoculated quickly, fair officials announced the cancelation of the September fair for the second year in a row. Last year the fair was cancelled for the first time since World War II — both cancellations serving as a stunning reflection of just how serious a threat the pandemic has been in Los Angeles.

"To say we are heartbroken is an understatement," Fairplex interim CEO Walter M. Marquez said in a statement. "The LA County Fair is our flagship event, the foundation on which we build our community engagement. But we, in good conscience, could not move forward with planning our big, campus-wide fair this year, not knowing where the pandemic would be, come summer. It is a public health and financial risk for us to do so."

Organizers hope that with the caseload falling quickly and the rollout of the vaccine, a smaller version of the fair could be possible. The decision to scrap the event so far is a sign that post-vaccine life isn't returning to normal as quickly as many had hoped it would.

The fair will turn 100 next year. It attracts more than 1 million visitors over the course of its three-week run, raising more than $328 million for the county.