Crane Festival may be grounded again
When California’s economy reopened and COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in July, the Lodi Sandhill Crane Association was optimistic it would be able to once again hold its annual festival this fall.
However, due to concern over an expected October surge in COVID-19 cases in the area, the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival’s Nov. 5-7 return is uncertain.
“We’re driving people to be more involved through our website,” spokeswoman Kathy Grant said. “We’re thinking of doing something virtually that would encourage tours in the Delta that doesn’t involve buses, and would get people out on their own to avoid any COVID problems.”
Last week, San Joaquin County Public Health Services announced that COVID-19 infection rates had increased by more than 400% over the last month.
The new COVID-19 case rate in the county had rocketed to 11.5 per 100,000 residents as of last Tuesday, up from 4.7 per 100,000 residents when the state reopened.
Dr. Maggie Park, the county’s
public health officer, told the board of supervisors the increase was concerning, adding that health experts are worried the state could see a COVID-19 case surge in the fall that could possibly be as bad as the wave that shut the state down last year.
Grant said the association’s goal now is to promote the entire Sandhill crane season, which begins in October and ends in February.
“The crane season is longer than the festival itself, so we’re trying to spread out the event to various sites over an extended period of time,” she said.
Those events would include self-driven tours to locations where Sandhill cranes are known to gather, as well as an art show for local youngsters, both of which will last the entire five-month duration of the season.
For the art show, children would submit five pieces of work that would be displayed at the Lodi Public Library through February, Grant said.
The association would also like to spread the event, dubbed “Season of the Cranes,” to the Thornton Library as well, which is where a larger population of the bird can be found.
“Even though the city is allowing us to book Hutchins Street Square, we feel a little hesitant to tell people at this point we’re definitely having exhibits and demonstrations,” she said. “We are booking tours though, and we’re looking for private landowners who would like to let people on their property for the crane flyovers.”
Grant said the association is also optimistic that Lodi Unified School District teachers and parents may use the Season of the Cranes as part of the curriculum for Learning Outside the Classroom Enrichment Resources program.
Launched last year by the San Joaquin County Office of Education, the LOCkER program provides opportunities for children and teens to learn something new while learning remotely, including outdoor education.
“We’re just trying to figure out how to manage all this,” Grant said.
According to the California Department of Public Health, the county’s new case COVID case rate as of Monday was 17.8 per 100,000 residents, and its test positivity rate was 9.1%. When the state reopened in June, the case rate was 3.2 per 100,000 residents, and the positivity rate was 1.5%.
If the state was still using the Blueprint for a Safer Economy system today, San Joaquin County would be relegated to the most-restrictive purple tier, in which near all economic sectors would be closed.
There have been 738 new cases over the last seven days, as well as 18 deaths in the county, for a total of 77,338 cases and 1,461 deaths since the pandemic began in march 2020.
It is unknown when the Sandhill Crane Association may have a final decision on the festival’s return. For updates or more information, visit www.lodisandhillcrane.org.