Despite a decline in new cases and the increased distribution of vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic has the chance to cancel the Los Angeles County Fair for the second consecutive year.
Instead of a 19-day celebration of food, carnival rides, music and livestock in September, Fairplex operators in Pomona announced plans for a smaller event in the fall. Details of the event have yet to be announced.
“The LA County Fair is our flagship event, the foundation on which we build our community engagement,” Fairplex CEO Walter M. Marquez said in a statement. “But we could not, in good conscience, go ahead with the planning of our big campus-wide fair, not knowing where the pandemic summer would be.”
The cancellation is a financial blow to the nonprofit Fairplex, which owns the annual fair and other events on 500 acres of land in Pomona. The fair and events such as car shows and concerts generated more than $ 1.2 million in net income in 2018, according to the Fairplex annual report.
The cancellation of the fair last year was the first time the event has been scrapped since World War II.
Fairplex said it has cut 90% of its public events since March. During the pandemic, the fair saw use as a coronavirus test site, with a medical quarantine shelter in the Fairplex Hotel, and the site is now used as a mass distance for COVID-19.