Another summer event is being put on hold. The Indiana State Fair will not happen this year. Organizers blame COVID-19. Sharon Smith is the communications director for the Indiana State Fair Commission.
"We won’t have the full, robust Indiana State Fair as most people know it," Sharon Smith, the Indiana State Fair Commission's communications director says.
According to Smith, 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 we don’t know," she says. "But, we do know the show will focus on 4-H youth."
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.
