BALTIMORE (AP) - Officials with the Maryland State Fair say this year’s event is cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
General manager Andy Cashman told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday that only junior and open livestock shows bill be held. Cashman said no public will be invited to those shows and that they will be restricted to in-state participants.
The fair was originally scheduled to run from Aug. 27 to Sept. 7. The event usually draws hundreds of thousands of people and marks the unofficial end of summer. It’s been a Maryland tradition since World War II.
Social distancing regulations and other restrictions on mass gatherings were what did the fair in this year.
“We were trying to see what was going to happen with the virus, if the numbers were going to go up (or) down,” Cashman said. “It’s the right thing, it’s the safety of everybody. … We were trying to wait as long as we could, and we wanted to make the right decision, to be safe. And to do that, we really had to (cancel). Safety is what it’s all about.”
The pandemic has also closed state fairs in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio.
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