Two weeks after it was reported that the Mineola Chamber of Commerce was going ahead with its annual Mineola Street Fair scheduled for Oct. 4, board members of the chamber voted to cancel the event.
Chamber President Joel Harris said that at a recent board meeting, one of the 15 members made a motion to cancel it and the board agreed. Harris said he believes this is the right decision, saying the chamber prides itself on safety and wants to do everything it can to promote that.
“If you look at the posts we put on Facebook, a lot of people were saying ‘thank you,’” Harris said.
He added that it was a decision nobody wanted to make, but the last thing anyone from the chamber wanted was to hold the event and have someone get sick as a result.
On July 9, Harris said that the plan was to go ahead with the fair but put restrictions in place regarding physical distancing and mask requirements. Harris said at the time that there were still many questions about the event that would be answered down the road. He said he did not think rides would be viable.
One issue was that under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus restrictions, only 50 people are allowed to gather at a time, and the Mineola Street Fair generally attracts a few thousand visitors each year.
Harris took over organizing the event three years ago but the event has been going on much longer. According to Harris, the event started over 200 years ago but adopted the name “Mineola Fair” in 1899. It was held in Mineola Memorial Park from 1991 until 2013, when it moved to Main Street. It then settled in its current Jericho Turnpike location in 2016.
The fair, in normal times, has rides, vendors from various businesses around Mineola and performances from local musicians, dance studios and other residential talents.
Harris was hoping for the fair to pay homage to the village’s essential workers such as village employees, medical professionals and emergency service workers.
The event’s cancellation comes as many fairs are being canceled across the country. Among them are the New York State Fair, held each year in Syracuse, and the Big E, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The food service and retail industries have been hit especially hard by lockdown restrictions since March, when the outbreak began. However, Harris earlier this month said that the chamber doesn’t monitor revenue from the event and that the purpose of it is to highlight what the Village of Mineola has to offer to outsiders.
