The 2020 Arkansas State Fair has been canceled due to covid-19.
According to a news release, the board of directors for the Arkansas Livestock Show Association, which produces the annual fair, voted to cancel the fair "while leaving the door open for a possible livestock show."
The show would happen Oct. 16-25, the dates for which the fair was scheduled.
"We determined that it was in the best interest of the safety of our patrons, staff and our many sponsors to cancel this year's fair," fair General Manager Doug White said in the release. "We always want to produce the best fair possible for the state of Arkansas and we felt we could not do that with the multitude of restrictions we would have to put in place."
The fair typically sees more than 400,000 attend annually, according to the release, and the organization felt there was no way to safely put on a traditional state fair.
"Like all state fairs, we have food concessionaires, carnival rides and games on the midway, commercial exhibitors, livestock exhibitors and support staff," White said in the release. "We considered every possible combination of what might work in this unprecedented time of COVID-19, and came to the conclusion that we could not host a traditional state fair based on the challenges inherent in large crowds."
The 2021 Arkansas State Fair is scheduled for Oct. 15-24.