For the past 75 years nothing has shut down the Topsfield Fair, which is famously known as America’s oldest fair. The Topsfield Fair attracts approximately 500,000 people each year.
The fair has had to deal with inclement weather in the past and always has been able to push through, but safety concerns and restrictions made it “impossible” for this year’s event to go forward, organizers said.
“We needed this time to get set up. Things seemed to be going in the wrong direction. We wanted to make sure our vendors are safe, our volunteers are safe, and we just couldn’t come up with a way forward,” Topsfield Fair general manager James O’Brien said.
After months, of watching the virus O’Brien said he knew there was no way to safely pull off an event that attracts around half a million people. Tuesday night, he decided to cancel the 2020 Topsfield Fair 10- day event.
“I couldn’t feel comfortable that we could actually do it in a safe manner,” O’Brien.
It’s the first time the fair is being canceled since World War II.
“Some of our vendors, I hate to say it, but they may not be back next year,” O’Brien said.
The fair employs over 200 people and brings in 500 vendors from all around the country, according to O’Brien.
The Topsfield Fair has been around since 1818 and has only been canceled three other times. Once during the Civil War, once in 1918 during the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic, and also during World War II from 1943-1945.
The Essex Agricultural Society, the organization that runs the Topsfield Fair, announces that for the safety of fairgoers, staff, volunteers, vendors, exhibitors, and sponsors, it has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Topsfield Fair. pic.twitter.com/UdJb9W0FkG
— Topsfield Fair (@TopsfieldFair) July 29, 2020