State’s oldest festival cancels for 2020
MT. STERLING, Ky. (WTVQ) – Court Days, the state’s oldest festival hosted in Mt. Sterling every October, is canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus.
It now will be held Oct. 15-18, 2021.
“Last week, the Mount Sterling Court Day Festival Committee met to discuss the feasibility of hosting our annual event scheduled for October 16-19, 2020. After much discussion and deliberation, the committee felt that an event of this size and magnitude could not be safely held this year due to COVID-19, and I wholeheartedly agree,” Mt. Sterling Mayor Al Botts said.
“The health and safety of our community and of the attendees is always a top priority, so during these uncertain times, the committee and I feel it is in the best interest of the community and potential attendees to cancel the festival this year. Although we all love and cherish this event, and look forward to sharing our community with tens of thousands of visitors, the risk of holding the event far outweighs the reward. Tonight, I notified the City Council of the decision. Although we all are disappointed at the prospect of a year without Court Day, this decision is in the best interest of the health and well being of our community,” Botts continued.
“This decision was made after considering several factors. First and foremost is the uncertainty about COVID-19. Across the nation we are seeing the numbers of cases continue to rise. Despite our best efforts to implement measures to contain the virus, COVID-19 is continuing to spread and will impact our daily lives for months to come.
“Several factors were considered, which included the impossibility of social distancing, sanitizing, and performing temperature/health checks for vendors and attendees; the difficulty of cleaning and sanitizing bathrooms and public spaces; the difficulty of planning an event of this size under ever-changing federal and state mandates; the difficulty of property owners and organizers to accommodate vendors with the rapidly changing situation; the large number of out-of-state visitors; the concern of public compliance with established protocols and regulations; the potential negative impact on our school system, workforce, and healthcare system if the event were the source of an outbreak; the uncertainty that vendors or the public would even feel comfortable attending a mass gathering of this size; and liability concerns related to COVID,” the mayor dtated.
“However, the ultimate factor in this decision came down to one question. What is in the best interest of our community? As leaders in the community and organizers of this event, we are ultimately concerned with the potential long-term impact the event could have on the overall health and safety of our citizens. We are living in difficult times, but these times shall pass. When they do, we will be ready to resume our festival and bring it back stronger than ever,” he concluded.
Initiated in the 18th Century, Court Day became the annual trading day for much of Eastern Kentucky and still is. As many as 100,000 people from all parts of the country gather for the four-day event, which always starts on the Friday before the third Monday in October.
It features arts and crafts, food and music.
Early Mount Sterling was the trading center for a vast part of Eastern Kentucky. It was the site of several prominent hotels, taverns, and theaters, which served as meeting places, entertainment sites, and stagecoach stops and mail depositories for post riders, according to the event’s history.
October Court Days began at the turn of the 19th Century when the Kentucky General Assembly decided that each county should meet once a month to hold court. This day quickly became an annual trading day where people came from miles around to buy, sell and trade, the history explains.
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