South Country Fair has survived floods, floods, droughts, wind storms, torrential rain, scorching heat and everything in between according to organizer Gillian Moranz, but it couldn’t survive Covid 19 this year. But have no fear, the fair will be back next year.
Moranz answered several questions by e-mail.
She noted though July seems far away, there were many good reasons to cancel the fair this year.
“It is true that the festival is not until July, but on the scale of a global pandemic like this, a few short months is very little time. Our decision to postpone SCF #34 was not an easy one by any means. It was very difficult for our coordinators to digest the reality of not moving forward with something that is so important to us all,” she wrote.
“There are so many Fair kids who have never known a summer without SCF. We have countless volunteers and attendees that have been coming for 30 plus years. So many dedicate so much to what we create together, year after year. Needless to say, we did not take this decision lightly. But, at the end of the day, it came to down the health and safety of our community,” she continued.
Organizers considered several important points before deciding to cancel the fair this year.
“We have been notified that, although it has not been mandated provincially yet, it is highly unlikely that the number of individuals able to convene will increase higher than 250 by the summer. This is not yet mandated federally or provincially, but after conversations with our municipal government we did not feel confident planning a gathering of that size and proportion in our small town as early as July. At the moment Albertans cannot convene in groups larger than 15 and the prospects of all restrictions being lifted by July 16 are slim to none.
• We are responsible to ensure the health and safety of our communities. As this situation escalates globally we cannot in good faith assume that there will not be a risk of infection this summer, even if it the danger becomes less than it is currently. We are talking about the health of our artists, our attendees, our volunteers, our coordinators, our families and Fort Macleod residents. We take this responsibility very seriously, and although it is difficult to comprehend, we could not move forward in good faith knowing that we could potentially be putting our communities at risk.
• The fact that we run a camping festival is not insignificant. Our sanitation is outstanding on a normal year, but with risk of COVID-19 we have to accept the fact that we have no running water or protocol in place for these types of sanitation requirements. We did not feel we had the ability to meet the current sanitation protocol that would garner our communities completely safe while onsite.
• Even simple things like how we feed our performers and coordinators became extremely problematic. As a small festival we do not have the capacity to make major changes to the way we operate in such a short span of time.
• Our concern was also part and parcel with our ability to sell tickets. Would people still come out in strong numbers? The economy is tanking and so many people are out of work right now. When the restrictions are lifted, will folks put their heads down and work for the summer rather than taking holidays in hope of recouping lost income? And what about the fear factor? There will likely be some crowd PTSD that will take some time to get past, especially with the older demographics in our communities (and rightly so). We were justly concerned that these factors would directly impact our ability to draw enough people to not risk running a deficit. Sustainability is always a crucial conversation, even 34 years later. And, if people did buy tickets in larger numbers we circle back to the concerns listed above. No matter how you look at it, we are in a cycle of scary scenarios.
• We have received several accounts of Canadian musicians who have been infected with COVID-19 after returning home from tour (before all the cancellations began), making us wonder how realistic is was to ask Canadian artists to travel to us, or if they would even want to as the situation progresses.
At the end of the day, we made the decision earlier than many expected, but the reality is, this situation is not going to go away quickly. Treatment and vaccines will not be fast tracked as early as the summer because that is not how the medical industry works, and the potential risks to our communities are not worth business as usual. At least, that is SCF's sentiment. ”
She noted everybody who has already purchased seasons passes for the festival have already been contacted with their options.
“Yes, we have given our advanced ticket buyers the option to either request a full refund, carry their ticket over to 2021, or donate their ticket cost to the SCF Association. All the ticket purchasers have been contacted and given instructions on how to proceed. They can communicate their preferred option by responding to
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,” she advised.
New West Theatre, like everybody else, is on hiatus until the Covid 19 panic passes. However they are ready to go as soon as people are able to support live entertainment in the communities. 
clubs and numerous volunteers have already put into the event, originally scheduled for June 26-28, will lead to a bigger and better 20th Anniversary festival next year.
