2020 State Fair of Virginia canceled due to pandemic

State and county fairs are a great way for you and the kids to eat candy corn, play games and enjoy some live entertainment. (Thinkstock)(Getty Images/iStockphoto/nazdravie)

RICHMOND, Va. — The State Fair of Virginia has been canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Thursday that the fair’s organizers were unable to find a way to pull it off safely.

Pam Wiley, director of communications for the Virginia Farm Bureau, said staff spent months trying to figure out ways to make the fair work within state health guidelines.

Wiley said the last time the fair was canceled was during World War II. Before that it was during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918.

More than 245,000 people attended the fair last year.

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