By Pepper Fisher
CLALLAM COUNTY – There will be no Clallam County Fair again this year. Clallam County Parks, Fair and Facilities Director Joel Winborn announced the decision on Thursday.
He says the recommendation to cancel for the second straight year was made on Monday by Department Staff at a Special Meeting of the Fair Board and, after much discussion, the Fair Board voted to cancel the Fair. It was not a unanimous decision, with 6 votes in favor and 3 votes against.
Fair Manager Shari Ioffrida says despite Gov. Inslee’s announcement last week that the state would open fully by June 30, there would still have been restrictions enough to make the fair as we know it impossible.
“We would still need quite a bit of additional staff to handle monitoring the guidelines that will still be in place. Cleaning and sanitizing. And as you know, we have a lot of fair exhibits that are inside the buildings and we would be limited on the amount of people in those buildings and barns, as well as the amount of people that are even allowed on the fairgrounds itself.”
Ioffrida says the Fair Board also voted on a motion to open the fairgrounds to off-season use, and that passed unanimously.
“We are opening up the fairgrounds starting June 7th and that will be for 4-H clubs to practice here in the arenas, and then we’ll have be open to some small events. There’s a wedding planned and a couple of other things, as long as it falls within the current state guidelines.”
Have an event mind? Scheduling starts June 7. Contact the Fairgrounds Office for more details at 417-2551, or email at fairgrounds@co.clallam.wa.us.