By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Kansas State Fair Board has chosen to go on with the 2020 event.
"The staff put together what we thought was the best plan if we were going to have a fair given the COVID situation," said General Manager Robin Jennison. "We've spent a lot of time studying it. I'm really pretty proud of the plan we put together. The board voted 8 to 5 to go ahead and have the plan. I think one of the things that's interesting is, in our plan, the main thing that we kind of hang our hat on is the use of facemasks."
Jennison notes that in the indoor settings at the fair and in the grandstand, social distancing is impossible to enforce.
"You need to take a mask," Jennison said. "You will be required to have a mask in the commercial buildings. You'll be required to have a mask in all the buildings. Anybody going to a grandstand show will be required to have a mask. Obviously, there will be times, and we've not worked through this, if someone goes to get something to eat, just like at a restaurant, they're not going to have their mask on. To get in the grandstand, you're going to have to have a mask on."
Jennison acknowledges that the fair will not be a risk-free environment, but that's true every year.
"History will judge whether we should have had the fair or not," Jennison said. "There's no doubt in my mind, at that point, if things don't change, somebody may come to the fair with COVID. Somebody may come to the fair and get COVID. My goal is to make sure that all 600 of our employees stay safe."
Jennison knows they will lose some fair goers because they are in high-risk groups or because they can't handle wearing a mask, but the board has decided that in this respect, it is time to go on with life and it is the staff's job to do that as safely as possible.