DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) — The Brown County Fair will go on next month.
There was concern earlier this month that a decision from the De Pere common council not to grant the fair an exemption to their COVID-19 gathering restrictions could lead to the event’s cancellation, but Fair Board Chair Steve Corrigan says they’ll be able to move forward anyway.
“We can meet their guidelines” Corrigan told WTAQ. “We can move forward and have the adequate parking we need and still meet [De Pere’s] phase one guidelines.”
A portion of the fair grounds, used primarily for parking, sits within De Pere city limits. Cars will be more spread out on the lot this year.
Vice Chair Tim Van Duerzan says returning visitors will notice a number of changes to the fairgrounds this year.
“We have exceeded $27,000 in additional items to protect people, including hand sanitizers and cleaning crews that will be on the grounds all the time,” Van Duerzen told WTAQ’s ‘The Morning News with Matt and Earl’.
Cleaning crews will be sanitizing surfaces and restrooms throughout the day, instead of just at night.
A number of the more hands-on exhibitions will not be present at the fair this year, such as the kid-oriented “Agventure” tent.
Corrigan tells WTAQ that the fair has a number of advantages over fairs in other counties that give it the ability to confidently reopen.
“A lot of fairs had to cancel for financial reasons. They didn’t have a good reserve backed up and they were running close to the red as it was,” Corrigan explained. “Some of them were so early, that there was too much uncertainty [around the virus] when they had to make their decisions back in May.”
Corrigan sees a hidden benefit to holding the fair, as well.
“The kids are going school the week after the fair in some capacity, and our fair is going to give the families a chance to go to a public event and it can help provide some education to their children [about social distancing],” Corrigan said. “It will give families a chance to interact with their children and give them some guidelines for when they get back out to school.”
The fair is scheduled to run August 19th through the 23rd.
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