Is it really summer without all the festivals and fairs?

Events from Lyme to North Stonington to Norwich canceled

Even with preliminary plans in place to begin reopening the state, the prospects of a normal summer are looking bleak. Many towns are exploring or already instituting restrictions or closures at their beaches, and more of the region’s most popular outdoor events are being canceled daily because of the ongoing pandemic.

Last weekend, the board of directors of the North Stonington Agricultural Fair announced that event’s cancellation; it was scheduled for July 9-12. Board Chairman Doug Carocari said individual days of the fair have had to be canceled due to weather — in 2017, it opened a day late after a lightning strike injured a worker — but the board has never had to cancel the entire event since it started in the 1960s.

“We are the fair that kicks off the season,” he said. “We understand that a lot of people look forward to it and love it, but at the end of the day, a great day at the fair simply doesn’t take priority over people’s health, and the early dates in July we felt were just too soon to be putting on an event of our size.”

He said the board delayed the decision so it could have as much upto-date information as possible, but with so much still unknown about where the state will be in July, the board felt it was in everyone’s best interest to cancel. As a nonprofit, the fair isn’t in a position to lose a lot of money, but canceling now

and putting this year’s money toward the 2021 fair would be better than holding a fair that no one would attend due to public health concerns, he said.

Frank Burns, executive director of the Connecticut Tourism Coalition, said organizations with late-summer events are looking to postpone until later in the fall. While tourism around the state will be impacted, the shoreline and especially the greater Mystic area will probably take the hardest hit as major tourism centers.

He said coalition members, a mix of businesses and organizations, are working together to create a recovery plan specific to the tourism industry, discussing short-term needs on how to get through the summer and long-term needs to make it out of the pandemic. But with so many unknowns around what, when and how to reopen, he’s hesitant to speculate, other than this summer won’t be normal.

“We’re an industry that tends to bring a lot of people together, and when you bring lots of people together, there’s a bigger chance of them getting sick,” he said. “Until there’s a vaccine, I just don’t think people are going to have the comfort level in wanting to go out.”

This summer there will not be a Hamburg Fair in Lyme, Old Lyme Midsummer Festival, Stonington Village Fair or Rose Arts Festival in Norwich. Decisions have not been announced on some other events, such as Sailfest weekend in New London.

The Old Lyme Midsummer Festival had been scheduled for July 25, with the kickoff concert at the Florence Griswold Museum the night before. Cheryl Poirier, former chair of the Old Lyme Arts District and current volunteer, said the district had been formed as a way to promote Old Lyme’s arts tradition year-round in the event that the festival, which takes 11 months of planning, was rained out. Those organizers, too, never had to cancel the event before this year.

She said the district had looked at guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on large gatherings as well as Ledge Light Health District’s recommendations on farmers markets to develop ways to make the event safe for attendees. But patrons can enter the festival at multiple points along Lyme Street, so there would be no way to enforce capacity restrictions or requirements for masks or social distancing.

“We’ve always had hand sanitizing stations, and we’ve always followed Ledge Light’s health guidelines, but it looked like we would need to really ramp up for the summer the hand sanitizing stations,” Poirier said. “We were finding we couldn’t even guarantee we’d be able to rent enough hand sanitizer stations for the day.”

The decisions, while generally accepted by patrons, are still tough for the organizations that run the events as well as the people who participate as partners, vendors and exhibitors. Matt Marshall, director of visitor services at the Florence Griswold Museum and the on-site coordinator for the Old Lyme Midsummer Festival, said the event is a family tradition for many, not only in town but also across the region.

“A lot of people look forward to it, we look forward to it, it’s kind of a kickoff to the high point of summer,” he said. “Tourism is high at that point, and it’s nice to introduce tourists to our site and get them interested in us and hopefully coming back off-season.”

While the festival isn’t a fundraiser, it gives the district, the museum and other community partners an opportunity to share their assets and programs with visitors. The museum also hosts the festival’s kickoff concert that Friday night and the Bohemian Street Market on Saturday, featuring regional artisans and a food truck court.

‘Fairs are fun’

Morgan and Seth Riley of North Stonington show their animals at fairs around eastern Connecticut as well as the Big E, and they were both looking forward to the fair. Morgan, 11, shows her Jersey and beef Shorthorn cattle, and Seth, 8, was ready to show his Tunis sheep for the first time.

“I think that it’s sort of sad because I’m used to going to all the fairs in the summer and getting to show our cows, and it’s going to be different not being able to do that,” Morgan said.

“I wanted to show my sheep and I really can’t,” Seth said. “And the fairs are fun.”

Their parents, Mike and Elisha, run the cattle show and coordinate the vendors, and Elisha is also a 4-H club leader. Mike said he hopes everything is sorted out by the time next year’s fair comes around, though he’s concerned about getting it back up and running after a whole year off, especially since the fair competes with Sailfest in New London.

“It’s the only town function that basically everybody goes to,” he said. “It’s going to be weird with it not happening.”

Alternative events planned

While the flagship events are being put on hold for this year, discussions are in the works for alternatives. Carocari,

board chair of the North Stonington fair, said the board was considering a small oneor two-day fall fair with a farmers’ market, a cattle show and some craft vendors. He said the board also thought about incorporating larger activities, such as the mechanical pulls, that are popular with fairgoers, but would need to see what restrictions are still in place because it would be difficult to enforce social distancing at anything that includes bleachers.

The Old Lyme Arts District is using the time to promote safe activities hosted by district partners. Marshall said the Florence Griswold Museum still allows patrons on the outdoor artists’ trail, and staff are working on a phased plan to bring people back to the museum. Garden programs and art lectures that had been planned for the spring are slated to go online; he said the local landscape paintings featured in the next exhibition, “Fresh Fields,” will be a great way to welcome back patrons for the summer.

Other events that recently were canceled, including the Stonington Village Fair and Rose Arts Festival in Norwich, are creating virtual formats where they can still showcase member artisans or recognize award recipients while maintaining safe practices. The Town of Groton Parks and Recreation also is considering hosting a virtual 5K in place of the annual Tour de Noank.

“We’re an industry that tends to bring a lot of people together, and when you bring lots of people together, there’s a bigger chance of them getting sick. Until there’s a vaccine, I just don’t think people are going to have the comfort level in wanting to go out.” FRANK BURNS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CONNECTICUT TOURISM COALITION