Parke County commissioners voted Monday to cancel the Covered Bridge Festival for 2020.
The commissioners — Jim Meece, Bruce Hartman and Dan Collom — cited reasons for concern surrounding the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for the cancellation of the state’s largest festival, attended by more than one million visitors each year over a 10-day span.
The vote to cancel the festival passed via 2-0 vote, with Collom abstaining due to a conflict of interests as he owns Collom’s General Store in downtown Bridgeton.
Hartman was the first to make a statement on his position Monday.
“I’ve not heard from one person that’s given me a justifiable reason to have the festival — except money,” Hartman said. “If money means more than the lives of the people of our communities, then our priorities are not in the right place.
“Money’s no good if you’re dead.”
Meece also cited concerns surrounding the pandemic, saying upward of 100,000 visitors could leave Parke County with the virus if they went ahead with the festival.
“To think that wouldn’t have an impact on us is far fetched,” he said. “There simply is no way to satisfy the economic opportunities and health concerns at the same time. The festival is gonna be too big to maintain adequate levels of safety for the people living in Parke County.”
Other reasons for cancellation included: High exposure to retirees who would likely not man their booths this year for fear of exposure; first responders would be in constant contact with visitors, who could be exposed and forced to quarantine, leaving the county vulnerable to a number of issues unrelated to COVID-19; schools are attempting to reopen and may shut down if positive case numbers rise; and future festivals could be shut down or affected by any long-term effects.
“The effects could be devastating and could be long range,” Meece said. “And I know that there will be people that would be ready to jump on Parke County should there be a problem following this festival. And that’s a position we probably don’t want to put ourselves into.”
Collom’s comments echoed those of Hartman and Meece, though he did say inaccurate testing numbers could be off by upward of 50%.
“(A) nurse practitioner that I talked to has told me that the numbers are askew,” he said. “That being said, I still don’t want to see one person come down with it.”
Stage 5 of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s “Back on Track” plan has stalled until Aug. 27, Meece said, which would allow festivals to operate at full capacity.
But the move has kept Indiana in Stage 4.5, which restricts gatherings of more than 250 people and mandates facial coverings be worn.
“If we went to Stage 5, I don’t think there’d be anything that we would do as far as canceling, because if the state says we’re good to go, how do I tell somebody they can’t do business,” Meece said earlier this month.
As for vendors, it was disclosed that only 151 of the 1,333 average number of vendors are from Parke County, which sees little-to-no revenue from the festival each year, Meece said.
The meeting can be replayed at www.parkewithoutreverse.org.
