Tag: ohio fairs

Today, Gov. Mike DeWine ordered that all Ohio fairs starting July 31 and after must be limited to junior fairs only, following COVID-19 case increases and outbreaks connected to two county fairs.

Following Gov. DeWine's July 22 press conference, and a report on the Pickaway County Fair, other fairs in Ohio have modified their plans for 2020, some completely canceling their senior fairs, under guidance from local health departments.

Yesterday, Gov. Mike DeWine criticized early county fairs, saying a COVID-19 outbreak has already been connected to one, though he did not say which one. He also issued a statewide mask mandate for Ohio.  This morning, the Pickaway County Fair, the first Ohio fair to proceed with a full or modified fair in June, disputed local health district reports linking the fair to an outbreak.

Less than halfway into the 2020 fair season, Gov. Mike DeWine called on Ohio county fairs to do a better job of sticking to state guidelines for fairs amid increasing COVID-19 cases in his press conference July 22. He also announced a statewide mask mandate, to go into effect July 23, which will include the fairs.

Ohio fair boards are continuing to modify their decisions for 2020, as local health departments and other officials respond to increased COVID-19 cases.

The Canfield Fair will be a junior fair only this year, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early June, Ohio legislators rejected a measure to ban Confederate flags at county and independent fairs. Since then, some community members in Mahoning and Medina counties have been signing online petitions to ban the flag at their local fairs, an initiative that some fair officials say has tenuous legal standing.

Ohio fairs’ responses to new state guidelines and funding announced June 9 have varied across the board. Several fairs have reversed earlier decisions to cancel.  Others have stood by their initial decisions.

The state of Ohio is relaxing fair guidelines, following several fair cancellations after Gov. Mike DeWine released the original guidelines for this year May 28. 

On May 28, Gov. Mike DeWine released his guidelines for county and independent fairs.  They boil down to this: local fairs should decide for themselves.