The Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Fall Festival has been canceled for the 2020 year due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Considering nearly every large-scale event has been canceled since the start of the pandemic, it wasn’t surprising that the decision was made by.
Robbin Kost is the Fall Festival Chairperson, she tells WGIL that the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Association unanimously voted to cancel the event this year.
“The safety of everyone was our defining reason,” Kost told Galesburg’s Morning News on Thursday. “Yes, we know that we are healthy. But, we have visitors that come in from everywhere; we have vendors that come from everywhere. And, when you put the two together, we just did not want to risk anyone’s health and welfare.”
Kost says this would have been the 53rd year of the event, which has endured harsh weather and other hardships in the past.
“You know, we have faced torrential rains, one day being hot as ‘all-get-out’ and the next day you’re freezing. It’s not their show, but our vendors have stuck with us. And the Spoon River Drive has certainly changed over the years but still, it’s something that we have [worked very hard on] each year. And we were sure looking forward to having it.”
Kost said that the board was still doing the board meetings via conference calls during the pandemic. Wednesday night was the first in-person meeting since February.
“We talked. Yeah, we could wait till September to make a decision but that’s not fair to our vendors. They’re trying to prepare a product.”
2020 continues to see a lack of large community events take place because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
