LYME – (Press Release) Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hamburg Fair Association (HFA) has cancelled this year’s Hamburg Fair.
The annual fair would have been celebrating their 119th year the third weekend of August. Hosted by The Lyme Grange, the fair, located at 1 Sterling City Road, Lyme, CT has in the past featured Milestone Midway Carnival rides, kids games, food concessions, oxen-pull, arts and crafts, and top local musicians.
“The Hamburg Fair Association has been following guidance from public health officials and has determined that it is just not possible to host the fair this year.” says Skip Beebe, HFA President. “The health and safety of our community, guests, staff and volunteers remains our top priority. We look forward to welcoming guests to our annual fair tradition in 2021 and welcome new volunteers to help make it a banner year.”
The 2021 Hamburg Fair will take place Aug. 20 – 22.
The Annual Hamburg Fair is hosted by Lyme Grange #147 and organized by many local volunteers to build community relationships and create lasting family memories. Money raised from the event proceeds are used to fund the Grange Association, Lyme Fire Association and Lyme Ambulance Association.
For more information, visit www.hamburgfair.org
I can understand cancelling a major commercial event 100 days out. Vendor contracts, insurance, etc. are complicated expensive things requiring major financial commitments months in advance. The Hamburg Fair is 100+ days away, is this really the time to cancel and event that is managed by able and fabulous local volunteers?
Who doesn’t believe in safety first? Some people don’t, we see them in the news taunting politicians demanding zero safety buffer in terms of distance and masks for example. Obviously that’s the wrong approach in an airborne virus. We all have been bench testing the tried and true distancing, mask and gloves method when we shop for the basics and mail things at the post office and it works.
There is extremism on the other end of the safety argument too. I am saddened and frustrated that our local politicians aren’t rising to the challenge of this horrible virus and figuring out proven ways (thank you post office and grocery stores) to try to bring some semblance of our previous lives incrementally back.
At some point as the virus wears down, which it is, it will be more dangerous to drive to the Hamburg Fair than to attend it. I challenge our local brain trust to work harder at opening up some non-unsafe, easily manageable human interaction services such as recycling, burn permits, and other low hanging fruit services to demonstrate to the populace that there is a light at the end of this virus tunnel. Better planning, less political thinking and a dose of courage are the tools out of this nightmare.