North Carolina Cancels 2020 State Fair

RALEIGH, NC — The North Carolina State Fair, a tradition 167 years in the making, won't be held this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a press release, the state fair said the annual agricultural celebration was founded in 1853 and has most recently operated without interruption since 1946.

Throughout the fair's history, it has closed multiple times: from 1861 to 1868 during the civil war and reconstruction, in 1918 amid World War and from 1926 to 1927 after the fair's then operating board disbanded. Most recently the fair closed from 1942 to 1945 during World War II.

“The State Fair is a tradition we all look forward to each year. It’s a vital economic engine for local non-profits, community groups, small businesses and individuals," Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a statement. "We waited as long as we could, hoping the numbers would take a turn and we’d be able to continue with our planning, but each day brought more challenges than solutions.”

Pandemic permitting, the fair is scheduled to return to Raleigh from Oct. 14 to 24 in 2021.

Ultimately, fair officials said, the decision to shutter the event this year came after lengthy deliberations on how fair-goers could be kept safe, healthy and protected from the new coronavirus.

“We looked at so many different factors. From social distancing, face masks, temperature checks and capacity limits to the true minutia most wouldn’t think about until you are in the moment like social distancing on our shuttle buses, cleaning carnival equipment between riders, overlapping food lines and stringent cleaning schedules," Fair Manager Kent Yelverton said in a statement. "To offer anything less than what fairgoers have come to know and love would be a disservice to our community and to us. There is no halfway when producing a fair.”