The 2020 Indiana State Fair has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
The State Fair Commission and Board announced Thursday it will instead offer a 4-H livestock show in August and September as a kind of replacement.
In a statement, Commission Chair Brad Chambers said vendors and partners “began falling off,” prompting the decision to cancel the weeks-long event.
The new livestock show is aimed at highlighting the 4-H youth projects that are normally part of the State Fair. It will run on weekends only in August and early September.
Exhibitor entry fees that had already been paid will be refunded. Those who already bought admission tickets to the Fair this year can either ask for a refund or roll over their balance for tickets to the 2021 Fair.
"We won’t have the full, robust Indiana State Fair as most people know it," Sharon Smith, the communications director for the Indiana State Fair Commission says.
Smith says the difficult decision was made to change the format in hopes of retaining a key aspect of the fair. Youth working on projects have been preparing for the fair for months.
Details on the 4-H livestock show are still in development. Smith says more will be known in the coming weeks—including whether the exhibitions will be open to the public.
Whether there will be additional components to support that at this point is unclear.
The livestock shows will begin in August, weekends only. This year’s cancellation is the first time the Indiana State Fair has been cancelled since World War Two. The fair’s only other cancellation occurred during the Civil War.
The fair, in Indianapolis, draws around 900,000 people annually.
Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
Brock Turner contributed to this article.
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