Township cancels Azalea Festival for 2nd year
HAMILTON >> The pandemic strikes again.
Hamilton Township has canceled its annual Azalea Festival for the second consecutive year due to New Jersey’s COVID-19 restrictions, Mayor Jeff Martin confirmed.
The COVID-19 public health emergency forced the Martin administration to cancel last year’s Azalea Festival, and Gov. Phil Murphy’s ongoing social distancing mandates prompted Martin to pull the plug on this year’s festivities.
The Azalea Festival 2021 would have taken place on Saturday, May 8, at the scenic Sayen Botanical Gardens if the event went ahead as planned.
“Each year, Sayen Gardens receives thousands of visitors for Azalea Festival and unfortunately,” the Martin administration said in a statement, “outdoor gathering limits are unlikely to be expanded enough to safely celebrate this year.”
About two weeks ago, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order that increased outdoor gathering limits to 200 persons or fewer effective April 2 — not enough to accommodate Azalea Festival’s popular appeal.
Penalties for violating Murphy’s executive orders may result in monetary fines and imprisonment for up to six months. The Democratic governor may further relax his social distancing guidelines in the weeks ahead, but he has not provided a date certain for when New Jersey will fully reopen to permit large outdoor gatherings featuring thousands of people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend that large gatherings be avoided, particularly those in which physical or social distancing cannot be maintained between people who live in different households.
At least 217 Hamiltonians have died from COVID-19 as of Wednesday morning, according to township data. The township has recorded more than 6,000 total cases of COVID-19 since the novel coronavirus pandemic began.
Hamilton’s Division of Health has already vaccinated hundreds of township residents, and the division is planning to host additional COVID-19 clinics to vaccinate more residents with Moderna’s twodose inoculation, Martin said this week.
“Our health department is eager to run their clinics around Hamilton Township to be convenient to Hamilton residents,” he told The Trentonian on Tuesday.
The township has temporarily stopped giving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to concerns over potential blot clotting.
“I’ll leave the medicine to the medical experts,” Martin said of the J&J setback. “Our focus here is on how to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.”