As the Guthrie County Fair annually takes place over the Labor Day weekend, the Fair Board had the advantage of monitoring other large area events before announcing the COVID-19 changes they will have in effect.

The Board recently announced that the fair will not be held at a full scale, with the elimination of the parade, carnival rides, and closure of the Art/Ag Hall. Fair Board President Tyler Carney says they received some helpful feedback from the public through an online survey they conducted to gauge their opinions on the parade and carnival, “When the survey was first sent out we hadn’t gone through the Fourth of July weekend yet, and so there were parades that were actually cancelled or ones still happened over the Fourth of July. And the attendance was not strong enough we felt, and the entries were not strong enough for us to think that it was the wisest idea to have the parade.”

Carney mentions the first decision they made in scaling down the fair was cancelling the carnival, as it is the Board’s largest expense. The fair will still include grandstand entertainment, and the Board has also chosen to roll the campground fees paid last year to 2021, and eliminate the gate fee to the public. Carney hopes this year’s fair will still be one for the youth and families to enjoy, while it promotes a safe and healthy environment with social distancing, sanitizing, and following other guidelines released by the State of Iowa and Iowa Department of Public Health.