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On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the remaining county and independent fairs set to take place in Ohio in 2020 will be ordered to run as junior fairs only. Read the order

“We laid down some very specific guidelines and gave each fair $50,000 to be able to put on a much safer fair,” DeWine said. “At this point as we start to head into the busiest part of the summer for county fairs, it has become increasingly clear that we cannot have a regular, safe fair in the COVID summer of 2020.”

The order sent down by DeWine will take all county and independent fairs that begin on July 31 or later to junior fairs only.

“We are seeing some fairs that are doing a very, very good job,” DeWine said as he shared examples of safety measures being taken by county fairs that have already taken place. “Yet we have seen outbreaks connected with fairs, we’ve seen a lack of distancing and we’ve seen fairs that were clearly not enforcing the statewide mask order at all.”

DeWine noted pictures in newspapers and on social media that validate his concerns.

“I think we preserved the essence of the fairs by keeping junior fairs,” DeWine said. “But I am sorry that this did not work.”

This order will limit county and independent fairs to junior fair events. Fairs that fall under this order will not be allowed to have grandstand events, rides or games and will have a 10 p.m. curfew.

Online extra

Director’s Order

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