John Henry Days festivities in Talcott are canceled for 2021, the second year in a row the festival has been shelved due to the COVD-19 pandemic.
President of John Henry Days Committee Stephanie Harris said it would have been their 26th year had the festival organizers felt they could have proceeded with plans.
However, the uncertainty of government guidelines got in the way.
“It was a hard decision to come to,” Harris said. “But, we can’t feasibly get the festival together” with the delays and uncertainties. It takes months to plan the event and not knowing what the COVID-19 government mandates might make it too difficult to follow the schedule required to plan the Rubber Duck Race and some of the many other components of the festival.
The annual John Henry Festival in Talcott is just one of many in a series of Summers County events to face the unfortunate reality of the pandemic over the past year. The global spread of the virus has created many casualties locally, from every festival to weekly gatherings, church services, and, of course, work and school for nearly every family.
The announcement to officially mark John Henry Days off the calendar this year was made recently.
Harris noted, “We work with a small group of volunteers and follow a general planning schedule every year.”
Postponing the sequence of steps required to successfully plan the event made it “nearly impossible to plan a three-day festival in a minimal time,” Harris said. However, “[they] are hopeful and willing to be able to provide some form of entertainment at a later date.”
Harris pointed to current guidelines and mandates limiting gatherings to 75 people at a time.
“We are sad to make the announcement,” of the second year of cancellation in a row, “but feel we have no other choice.”
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