The Wisconsin State Fair has not yet decided to hold the annual 169-year tradition in August, to cancel, or to change the fair in the wake of coronvirus.
But State Fair CEO Kathleen O’Leary says that they are looking at a whole bunch of different possibilities, and there is a deadline that will eventually come for a decision – but it’s not now.
“There is a time that the decision will be made to either move forward or to not but it isn’t right now, and it shouldn’t be right now,” CEO Kathleen O’Leary tells WTMJ’s John Mercure in an exclusive interview.
“We have to reference the Badger Bounce Back. That’s where a lot of decisions need to be made, from a list of where we are with social distancing, from a list of where we are with ‘What is that number that can attend or can’t attend mass gatherings?’ We would need to be in Phase III without question…that would lift the number of people who could attend. Obviously, we’re talking a million person-attended event.”
One option that appears doubtful is postponing the fair from the current dates of August 6-16.
“Postponement for the Wisconsin State Fair is incredibly difficult with the agricultural component, with the commercial, food, beverage operators, with the amusement ride operators. It is very, very difficult for us to have a postponement option,” she explains.
Summerfest, a festival based more on musical performance, allows for more options to help with holding a postponed festival. They are doing so in the first three weekends of September.
O’Leary also said that they are considering not allowing as much of a public presence at the Fair, but having something involving the agricultural aspects of the fair.
“A model that we are looking at. Agriculture is the core of the fair industry as a whole,” she said.
In the end, O’Leary wants to assure fairgoers they are attempting every possible method to make the Fair happen safely.
“There is nothing more that we want than to have the Wisconsin State Fair in some sort of fashion,” said O’Leary.
“We are exhausting everything we can do.”