Fair Parade Plan Nixed

The Fayette County Fair parade will not happen this year, the latest in a slew of activities that are usually part of the annual Labor Day weekend fest that have been cancelled amidst the pandemic.

Fair President Michael Zuhn said that the fair association submitted a plan to the city and county “showing how we were going to accomplish social distancing and protect people,” during the parade.

Zuhn said the fair’s planned borrowed heavily from the plan Round Top used to hold their July 4 parade.

One of the biggest concerns Zuhn said was the congestion on the courthouse square during the parade and an alternate route was discussed.

In the end, he said City of La Grange officials informed him that the parade could not be held.

“It was a very difficult decision, but it was my feeling, and the feeling of our disaster management coordinators that the safest decision was to skip it,” Mayor Janet Moerbe said. “The governor has discouraged gatherings of more than 100 people. You can separate floats but not the people watching. We’re at a critical point with COVID. Our businesses cannot survive another shutdown.”

Sgt. Travis Anderson, La Grange’s Emergency Management Coordinator said the parade plan was discussed atlength by several La Grange city officials, “but for the health of everybody involved it was in the best interests to not have the parade. If one person gets sick, it’s not worth it.”

Zuhn said similar safety plans have been submitted to the city and county for the fair’s plans to have the Queen’s Contest, Livestock show and BBQ Cook-off (the only remaining aspects of the fair they still planned to have.)

“We had to submit a different proposal for each aspect and everything is pending, but we are moving forward,” Zuhn said.

Anderson said he believes all three of those aspects of the fair will be able to occur based on the way the fair has presented plans for social distancing.

This is the second time in the past four years the fair will not have a parade after also cancelling it in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey flooding in 2017 (which happened just six days before the start of the fair).

“Harvey was ‘bang’ but then it was gone. This is a different ballgame,” Zuhn said. “This has dragged on since March. This is like a long-term hurricane.”