UPDATE: On Friday the Kern County Fair Board voted to move forward with the fair in 2021. This follows an earlier decision to postpone the fair until 2022.
The fair is scheduled to take place from September 22nd to Oct. 3rd. The fair will be closed Monday, September 27, and Tuesday, September 28 to allow for sanitation and health and safety protocols.
“The Board, fair staff, and I are thrilled to once again be planning the 2021 Kern County Fair for our community,” said Michael Olcott, CEO of the Kern County Fair. “Like other fairs and venues that have safely reopened throughout California and around the country, we are developing best practices and safety guidelines that align with the CDC and CDPH.”
“I would like to thank the County’s Board of Supervisors and the County Administrative Officer for all the support they have given the Fair over the past 12 months” added Olcott. “We look forward to working with the County of Kern so that free testing and vaccinations are available to fairgoers.”
The fair will share additional details in regards to health and safety protocols in the coming months.
There is still a chance the fair could happen this year. The Kern County Fair Board first voted to postpone it due to public health's mass vaccination site currently at the fairgrounds but the county says they're willing to make something happen.
The Fair Board of Directors said the issue was a matter of space but last Tuesday the county said they were willing to help make the fair and the vaccination site co-exist. The board says this came to them as a surprise but they’ve decided to further discuss it Friday.
Chairwoman Blodgie Rodriguez says it’s going to take a lot of teamwork to make the event happen so soon.
“Typically a fair takes 12 months to plan. And they’ll have to not only plan but pull it off in 3. It’ll be a matter of our staff putting together what is feasible and what’s not, and then us having that discussion as a board.”
That time crunch of three months is just one hurdle that will be discussed in Friday's meeting. Vaccination requirements and COVID-19 guidelines will also be on the table.
