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Shippensburg Corn Festival canceled due to coronavirus

The Sentinel - 6/26/2020

Jun. 26--The Shippensburg Corn Festival Committee announced Friday that it has made the "painful decision" to cancel the 2020 Shippensburg Corn Festival

The event will return on Aug. 28, 2021, for its 40th year.

According to a news release announcing the cancellation, the committee has been trying to find ways to modify the festival to comply with guidelines from the state and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including moving the event away from downtown Shippensburg, reducing the number of vendors or limiting the number of visitors allowed into the festival area.

"Every possibility would have changed the event so much that it wouldn't be the Corn Festival that people love, with its bustling, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd packed into five downtown blocks," the release said.

Corn Festival Committee President Debbie Weaver said the well-being of the community comes first.

"There's just no way we can bring 30,000 or more visitors and almost 300 vendors to downtown Shippensburg and ensure that everyone stays safe," Weaver said.

Even without the income from a festival this year, the Corn Festival Committee will accept funding requests from community groups and will award grants for some projects in 2021. More information on grants will be available later this year at shippensburgcornfestival.net.

One of the biggest one-day street fairs in the United States, the Shippensburg Corn Festival is run by an all-volunteer committee that meets year-round to plan the annual event and to distribute festival profits to projects that benefit Shippensburg. In its first 39 years, the Corn Festival has donated more than $400,000 to community projects.

Email Tammie at tgitt@cumberlink.com. Follow her on Twitter @TammieGitt.

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