37th annual Penn’s Colony Festival canceled
The Penn’s Colony Festival in Saxonburg has been canceled because of the pandemic.
The 37th annual event was scheduled for Sept. 19-20 and 26-27.
Organizers plan for the festival return next year, setting the dates as Sept. 18-19 and 25-26, 2021. It is held at the Penn’s Colony Village Grounds in Saxonburg.
“In consideration of the thousands of visitors and participants the festival brings together each day, we felt there is really no way to guarantee we could keep the family of Penn’s Colony Festival customers and participants safe from the coronavirus at this time,” said Raymond Rush, founder of Penn’s Colony, in a statement.
Penn’s Colony recreates an early American village with close to 200 artists and craftsmen, musicians, historic re-enactors and entertainers set in the midst of their Colonial harvest festival, surrounded by Pennsylvania’s French and Indian era history. The two-weekend event has attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day from Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York.
“We care about the health of everyone, and we thought by fall we might be able to safely do the festival, but there are too many variables,” said Beth Ann Rush, promotions manager. Her husband, Ray Rush, started the festival because of his love of the French and Indian War. “We have vendors who come from a variety of regions, and we also weren’t sure how many people would come,” she said.
Beth Ann Rush said the social distancing would be difficult to do, citing as an example a pony ride for a child: someone has to pick the child up, and there is no way to stay 6 feet apart. In addition, many of the vendors offer a close-up view of what they are making.
She said everyone involved agreed this is the best decision. Many of the vendors rely on these festivals for their livelihood, but understand the situation, she said. They discussed possibly a virtual event, but the festival thrives on the face-to-face interactions between vendors, re-enactors and attendees, she said.
“We just couldn’t imagine how we would feel if someone became ill with covid-19 because we held the festival,” she said.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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