For the third time in its 108-year history, the BCNE Fall Fair in Prince George has been cancelled as a result of the coronavirus.
President Sylvia Layzell told MyPGNow.com the decision wasn’t made lightly.
“We spent weeks trying to figure out how to host some kind of fair, the bottom line is that a fair is the complete opposite of physical distancing so the safety of our customers is the number one priority.”
“At the end of the day, we could just not figure out how to host a fair and for the best interests of our community and the safety of everyone, we just decided to cancel this year.”
However, despite the one-year hiatus, Layzell is confident the BCNE can weather the storm heading into 2021.
“We have survived many things. I mean, we managed to make it through two World Wars, the Great Depression and several economic turns and I believe with the support of our community we will also survive COVID-19.”
Layzell states she and the rest of her board members are solely focused on what’s going on at home.
“We’re focusing as everyone else on our families, a lot of our board are essential workers and they are working hard to keep our community safe, we strongly support them.”
Like many other events and conferences that have been cancelled due to COVID-19 there has been a negative trickle-down effect on the local economy and losing the annual fair is just another blow.
“The BCNE is no exception, people from all over Canada and the United States come to the BCNE as entertainers, exhibitors and sponsors, every event that cancels does impact Prince George and the BCNE is no exception to that,” added Layzell.
The 2021 BCNE fair is scheduled for August 19th to the 22nd.
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