CORONAVIRUS: HUDSON VALLEY GARLIC FESTIVAL OFF
COVID forced ‘extremely difficult decision’ to cancel popular fall event in Saugerties
The 32nd annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, scheduled for Sept. 26-27 at Cantine Field, has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers announced Monday.
“As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties has made the extremely difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival,” Richard Kappler, chairman of the club’s Festival
Committee, wrote in an email. “The safety of our community, the festival’s visitors, and its vendors is the number one priority of our club.”
Kappler said the trend of rising infection rates whenever there are large public gatherings and the need to maintain social distancing to avoid spikes “made planning for a safe festival in 2020 impossible for our group of volunteers.”
The Garlic Festival typically draws tens of thousands of people and scores of vendors during its annual two-day run, which also includes live entertainment, cooking demonstrations and food service.
“We are heartbroken that our garlic friends and vendors will not be able to celebrate [the]
harvest of the stinking rose with us this fall, as they have since 1992, but be assured that we will be back in 2021,” Kappler wrote.
The 2021 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival is scheduled for Oct. 2-3 at Cantine Field.
Kappler said the Kiwanis Club has been able to provide support to many groups and individuals as a result of sponsoring the Garlic Festival for the past 28 years.
He said the club sponsors the Key Club and Builders Club at Saugerties Junior-Senior High Schools to teach children about the importance of community service, and also has strong ties to the Saugerties unit of the Boys and Girls Club of Ulster County and the Saugerties Public Library.
Klapper said the Kiwanis Club is committed to those and other programs it has supported and is working to determine how it can minimize the effects of the Garlic Festival being canceled.
County fairs across New York, as well as the State Fair in Syracuse, also have been canceled because of the pandemic.
For local coverage related to the coronavirus, go to bit.ly/DFCOVID19.