In sudden turnabout, Ozaukee County Fair is essentially canceled

In a sudden turnabout, Ozaukee County Fair officials announced on Thursday that the fair, which they said last month would be held but in a limited fashion, will now be restricted to a few 4-H-related activities and not be open to the public due to rising concerns over the coronavirus. 

“The Fair Board met this week and decided to limit this year’s fair to the judging of 4-H and Open Class exhibits and holding the traditional livestock and small animal auctions,” a press release from the Ozaukee County Agricultural Society board of directors, which operates the fair, said. 

“Attendance will therefore be limited to those necessary events and will not be open to the public. We will not have food vendors or any shows that the public can attend.”

The decision came as the county has experienced an uptick in the number of Covid-19 cases and the risk factor for further infection remains high, according to the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department.

“It is with great frustration and regret that we will not be able to hold our traditional fair events, an event that we recognize would be of tremendous morale value to the Ozaukee County community, but prudence dictates otherwise under the circumstances,” the press release said.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Fair Board President Mark Larson said health data had appeared to flatten when the Fair Board made the decision to hold the fair from July 29 through Aug. 2, but that trajectory changed in recent days.

“Things were looking positive for weeks and weeks. But late last week, the numbers changed from a positive trend to a negative trend and that continued this week,” he said.

“In all fairness to our vendors, many of whom have to travel to get here, we needed to make a decision and not wait until the last second.”

Larson said the reaction to the decision to hold the fair was overwhelmingly positive, but some criticized the Fair Board for itsdecision because it went against the advice of public health officials, with one Ozaukee County supervisor calling the decision “irresponsible.”

Both Larson and Public Health Director Kirsten Johnson, however, said that despite the difference in opinion, fair organizers and health officials talked almost every day to plan the fair and work to institute safe practices.

Larson said fair officials also were in constant contact with officials from the county, City of Cedarburg and Cedarburg Fire Department, which owns Fireman’s Park adjacent to the county fairgrounds and that is rented by the fair.

“We were trying to do the reasonable and prudent thing through all these discussions,” Larson said. “We were trying to work with all the governmental agencies. Unfortunately, the numbers changed. We really wanted this to happen.” 

With fair activities limited to the “necessary events” of judging 4-H and Open Class exhibits and the traditional livestock and small animal auctions, Ozaukee County 4-H Program Director Jayna Hintz said her office will create a video honoring 4-H graduates and scholarship winners and showcase it and the exhibits in the Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Center building at the fairgrounds.

The decision to restrict the fair  comes as one new Covid-related death was recorded this week in Ozaukee County and the county’s risk factor reached a “high” level due to an increase in the number of cases, primarily among young adults and children.

The virus’ death toll reached 17 in the county this week as one person in an unidentified long-term care facility died, Johnson said. 

That follows another death last month. The cause of that death was from an underlying health issue but the person tested positive for Covid-19, Johnson said.

On Thursday, the number of cases in the county had risen to 288, up from 251 on July 2. The number of people testing negative for the virus stood at 7,386 on Thursday, up from 6,500 on July 2.

“We’re seeing more young people than before, including school-age children. A lot of them are having symptoms,” Johnson said. “Before this, we didn’t see cases in young people primarily because they weren’t in school. But now they are out and about, playing sports, going to day care and camps and other activities.”

Hospitalizations in Ozaukee County remain low, she said. Of those, many are from outside the county.