Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day canceled for 2020

QUINCY — Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day, a longstanding annual celebration in Quincy, has been canceled for 2020.

The FCAD board of directors announced the cancellation on Wednesday. The festival had been scheduled for Sept. 12.

Board president Wyman Duggan said it was a hard decision to make.

“It was a pretty sad meeting. No one wanted to do it, but we felt we had to let the community know,” he said.

Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day joins a long list of events canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. State officials imposed severe restrictions on business and movement in March as part of the effort to combat the outbreak and in May announced a plan for phased reopening.

Unlimited movement isn’t allowed until the fourth and final phase, and it’s uncertain that Grant County will be in Phase 4 by September.

Planning for September events is underway now.

“There are too many things in order to make it work that have to be done ahead of time,” Duggan said. “The uncertainty was the big thing.”

Another consideration was insurance coverage, Duggan said, since the festival might not be covered if organizers went ahead while Grant County was not in Phase 4.

Canceling FCAD was even more difficult because 2020 is a significant anniversary.

“This would’ve been number 40 in a row,” Duggan said.

While FCAD 2020 has been canceled, organizers are already thinking about next year, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at [email protected].