The 144th Schoharie County Sunshine Fair is on schedule for August 11-16.
For now, anyway.
Fair President Doug Cater said Monday that a decision about whether to hold the Fair won’t come until about the third week of June.
“We’d need six or seven weeks to advertise the Fair and get ready,” Mr. Cater said. “We can’t decide two weeks before it would start.”
No concessionaires have cancelled for the Cobleskill Fair and are in fact looking forward to it, Mr. Cater said.
But there’s no way of knowing how the pandemic will play out in the next two months, before a decision on the Fair is made.
“We’re planning on opening,” Mr. Cater said. “If not, we’ll decide what to do.
“Until we know it’s a go, it’s on hold. It’s just wait and see. We’re staying positive.”
To his knowledge, none of the 50 county fairs in New York have been cancelled although two in Pennsylvania have been, Mr. Cater said. The first New York fair, the Orange County Fair the first week of July, is on schedule.
Meanwhile, the Fair Board is following the advice of President Donald Trump and Governor Andrew Cuomo and not holding events on the Cobleskill grounds.
The Schoharie County Maple Festival––scheduled for this Saturday––and horse shows have been cancelled.
“It has an economic impact,” Mr. Cater said. “Restaurants call us and ask when the big horse shows are.”
Workers at the Fairgrounds are keeping the lawns mowed and are taking care of projects, he added.