The 80th edition of the Wolf’s Corners Fair will have to wait until next year.
The fair’s board of directors have agreed to cancel this year’s weeklong event.
Fair board member Todd Beichner confirmed the decision to the Clarion News. Beichner said the uncertainty of the ongoing COVID-19 emergency forced the cancellation.
Beichner said the carnival owner starts his summer journey out of State College and makes a couple of stops along the way before arriving at Wolf’s Corners Fair, which is held during Fourth of July week.
Beichner said organizers at venues between State College and Wolf’s Corners canceled their events, which it made it economically unfeasible for the carnival owner to bring his complement of rides and games to Wolf’s Corners.
Further research by fair board members, Beichner said, indicated even if the COVID-19 mitigation plan is moved into its “green phase,” a spokesman for the state fair board said fairs and carnivals would be limited to having no more than 100 people on the grounds and no more than 30 people in any one concentrated area.
“There’s no way we could make that work,” Beichner said.
In addition to its traditional July 4 fireworks show, the Wolf’s Corners Fair had scheduled its truck and tractor pulls, its draft horse pulls, a rodeo and a circus.
The cancellation of the fair also puts the 4-H livestock auction in limbo. Beichner said he does not know what the 4-H will do about the auction, which raises money for student scholarships.
According to state law, a “Class A” fair is “an annual agricultural event that operates on 40 acres or more of land and pays $10,000 or more in premiums to winners of agricultural or agribusiness contests or exhibits.”
The Department of Agriculture Fair Fund reimburses officially recognized fairs for some costs, including contest payouts, and grants are available to help with ground improvement and operating costs.
As the earliest county fair in the area, Beichner said other fair directors from Jefferson County, Dayton and the Clarion County Fair in New Bethlehem were waiting to see what Wolf’s Corners would do.
“I know they are all worried about what is going to happen with their fairs,” Beichner said. “But for us, we had to cancel this year. We look forward to seeing everyone next year.”