No County Fair This Year

Bill Williams just reported on Facebook that the Columbia County Fair has been canceled for 2020. Here is the press release that came from the Columbia County Fair Board:

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Columbia County Agricultural Society on June 29, 2020, the Board reluctantly concluded that it would be unable to hold this year's Columbia County Fair. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the limitations on social gathering and related mandates under the regulations which have been adopted by the State Government in response to the same make it impossible to conduct a Fair this year.

Board President, Nelson R. Alford, Jr., stated that this would have marked the 180th consecutive Columbia County Fair. It has prevailed through the Civil War, the Spanish Flu, and two World Wars, but the health and safety of our patrons, our employees, our exhibitors and our vendors require that the 180th annual Columbia County Fair must be postponed until September 2021.

This was a very disappointing decision for the Board to have to make, and it is hoped that it will be understood by the public and all who are involved in the presentation and conduct of the annual Columbia County Fair.

The first comment on Williams' post was this:

This speaks volumes of who we've become as a county, as a state, as a nation. Civil war, Spanish flu, Great Depression, two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, outbreak of 1969, desert storm, Iraqi freedom, hurricanes, h1n1 in 2008-9, on and on. 99.7% survival rate, at worst, was too much. We have become soft.