Litchfield’s annual summer celebration became a victim of the coronavirus pandemic Sunday night as the Watercade Board of Directors announced via its Facebook page that the 2020 festival would be canceled.
“Yes, it is true,” the post began. “Watercade is being canceled for 2020.”
The post went on to say that an official video post would be made Monday.
“Please, when that video is posted, take a moment to watch it ... so you can understand that it was not an easy decision, nor one that was made lightly,” Sunday’s post added.
Watercade 2020 was scheduled to run July 9-12 this year, and board members had held out hope that the pandemic threat might be at least reduced enough to allow the celebration to go on. But health concerns, as well as business concerns, became too much to overcome.
In an email to Art in the Park vendors, Watercade Board Chairwoman Heather Winkelman said that, “Many factors played into this decision such as the Covid-19 virus, financial burdens on many local businesses who normally are very generous in helping make Watercade a reality every year, a current ban on ‘sales on public property” in Litchfield which, as of right now, is the case all the way through August, and other factors that are out of our control.”
Watercade would have been marking its 64th community celebration this summer.
- Brent Schacherer
Copyright 2020 Litchfield Independent Review/Crow River Media/Media News Group.