Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Devon Horse Show and Country Fair canceled once again
EASTTOWN >> For the second year in a row, the Main Line’s premier horse event will not take place because of coronavirus.
Over the past few days, officials from the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair announced they were canceling this year’s event due to ongoing pandemic concerns.
“This decision was made only after significant evaluation of the far-reaching operational and financial implications due to ongoing restrictions imposed by U.S. Equestrian (USEF) regarding spectators and other important issues at their sanctioned events,” Wayne W. Grafton, chairman and CEO of the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair, said in a press release.
“The organizers together with the Board of Directors, evaluated multiple options, but were ultimately unable to operate under the current restrictions outlined by the sport’s governing body.”
According to officials from the horse show, they were told that pandemic mitigation guidelines would not be available until the middle of May, and that would not give them enough time to plan the 2021 show.
Although other equestrian events are now taking place, officials of the show said they are uniquely linked to the local audience and spectators and did not want to jeopardize future events.
The Devon Horse Show has been a major Main Line event since it began 125 years ago. The show is considered the largest outdoor multi-breed horse show in the nation, taking place on the Devon Horse Show’s grounds in the Devon section of Easttown Township, Chester County.
When show officials announced last March that the 2020 show would not take place due to the pandemic, it marked the first time since World War II that it was canceled. At that time, the show failed to run from 1943 through 1945. A scaled-down version of the show took place in 1918 during World War I.
Since 1919, money raised for the show has benefited Bryn Mawr Hospital.