The Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton has been canceled for the first time in its 108-year history due to the coronavirus, event officials said this week.
“The Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association has actively been following state and county officials in an effort to comply with public health mandates,” fair CEO Jerome Hoban said in a statement. “The health and safety of guests, staff, and partners continues to be our number one priority, our team is updating protocols and guidelines so that when allowed, we can safely welcome the community back to the venue.”
The fair, which annually brings some 500,000 people to Pleasanton and provides about 900 seasonal jobs, had been scheduled to run for 18 days from June 19 to July 12.
“As much as we love putting on the Fair and bringing the community together, it is clear that it is best to postpone Fair this year, we will celebrate together again in 2021,” stated Board President, Gordon Galvan.
“Canceling the Fair is devastating to our team and partners who come from across the country to entertain the Alameda County community.”
Some aspects of the fair may take place in modified form.
Officials are working on making live horse racing, fair contests and the junior livestock auction available this summer, while following state and county mandates that will likely preclude live spectators.
The nonprofit Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association is also exploring the idea of hosting a community celebration in October if conditions allow.
A portion of the fairgrounds parking lot is currently being used as a regional COVID-19 drive-through testing site.
photo credit: Alameda County Fair
38 comments
So sad! We would’ve gone had it opened.
This is insane…period
Meanwhile, the numbers continue to plummet…..
Sad that they will have to cancel, have spent many wonderful days there with family and friends. Let’s hope the Scottish Games can go forward.
108RS
Sorry Jeff, I heard from the Davidson and Buchanan clan representatives that the Scottish Games were cancelled.
….. also clans Lundy and Calhoun.
No Scottish Games?! 😔
The Caledonian Club has a statement on their website, below.
* Note: They have not officially cancelled according to this, although we pulled our large dance competition out of the schedule on 4/22, in anticipation of the games not going forward *
“COVID-19 Update – April 21, 2020
The venue for the 155th Scottish Highland Gathering and Games, the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, are currently closed in compliance with California Public Health Office directives to help combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Clearly, any further state and federal directives regarding mass gatherings may impact this years Games, and we are closely monitoring the situation accordingly. In anticipation thereof, we are exploring our options for this year’s Games.
We will update this page as soon as any final decision is made.
Thanks for your interest in our Games, and please stay safe!
There will be no County Fairs in California for the remainder of 2020. No ball games with fans present. No live concerts with audience. But on the bright side, +35,500 people per week are not being diagnosed with cancer, few new diagnosis’s of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc…
What could possibly go wrong.
Sad but understandable.
Stopped going when it became impossible to tell which day was street gang day.
I guess if you have to cancel Easter for the first time in 2,000 years, what’s a county fair or two?
We’ve long known that California is doomed, but the speed of the implosion of the United States, and really of the entire western world, comes as a shock even when you thought you couldn’t be shocked.
Hey, it was nice while it lasted. Enjoy your micro-chipped vaccines and your total surveillance state. Would you like some sawdust fries with your insect-meat frankenburger? Oh wait, we can’t serve you food because we see that you left a non-approved comment back in 2020. So sorry.
THEEEERRRREES that “guy” with THAT comment. Wondered how long it would take. sheesh.
Hey Alan. How’s that microchipped Polio
vaccine workin’ out for ya. Have you seen
a lot of people walking around with leg
braces lately. Time for ya to study a little
history. Read about Franklin Delano
Roosevelt first.
@Shoulda Coulda… Polio is still present in the middle East and Africa along with a couple of other sh*thole countries. I’m glad those people aren’t coming to the United States… Now for a joke, I heard that the Giant Asian Hornets are carriers.
@MattfromConcord
Ad hominem arguments don’t really cut it, Matt. You can do better than that. Or can you..?
There’s two types of people in this world, Matt. The kind who are frightened and weak and need their hair-gelled big daddy to comfort and control them, and then there are mature adults who stand tall and face life with all its risks and challenges.
Your ancestors, and also future generations, deserve better than your cowardly approach to life.
Now THAT’S an ad hominem attack, Matt.
(Matt quickly runs to big daddy Google so big daddy Google can define ad hominem for him.)
@nytemuvr
The ignorance is strong with this one…
Please do your research and discover why the Indian government kicked the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation out of India. The Gates’ polio vaccine caused a half million children to suffer paralysis. That’s a neat trick, huh.
Or read about the WHO’s tetanus vaccine so generously offered to the people of Kenya, which sterilized hundreds of thousands of women, as it was designed to do.
Obtuse and ignorant is no way to go through life, kid.
I remember about 20 years ago, 4th of July during the Alameda County fair, it was “Get in free with your Oakland High School ID” day.
Saw a lot of unsavory characters coming in that day,
My friend lived real close by, we were waiting for the fireworks, they never came.
Shooting, fireworks canceled and fair closed for the evening.
Freedom canceled.
Thanks Obama!
So come on fellow Claycordians!! They cannot control the huge crowds that attend the Alameda Country Fair. We have a pandemic. Please know we are not going to live our past life. THIS TOTALLY SUCKS. Get with the program and stop resisting the truth. THIS VIRUS CAN TAKE YOU OUT. We all hate the new normal. GET OVER IT! The only thing that created this is the VIRUS. Not our President or Gavin. Wake up and GROW UP! Sick of your baby wining complaints!
YES! This right here. Yes.
You said it right there in your second sentence. It’s all about control.
There are plenty of things that can “take you out”, but some of us are willing to take the infinitesimal risk of death in order to live our lives.
Hide under your bed forever, in fear of the bogeyvirus that’s lurking outside. I’m not going to live that way.
No one asked if I’d rather be dead than live like this. It was imposed on me and everyone else. No process, no democracy, nothing. Stroke of the pen of the Governor took all that away – until he decides to give it back. Uh… yeah… no, I’m not going to just get over it and no, I’m not being selfish. I’ve respected all the new rules and I will continue to do so, regardless of my feelings or whether or not I think this was necessary or not. But quite frankly, if anyone asked, I’d take my chances.
THANK YOU!!!!!! A nice comment from a wonderful Claycord resident. Thank you. Maybe @ Alan could learn from you.
ILP
The ‘new normal’? Really, you would accept a life where you are told what you can do, what you can eat, when you can do it, and when you leave your house as the ‘new normal’? If so, move to some communist country and GET OUT OF HERE!
There should be NOTHING normal with what is going on right now. We are SUPPOSED to live a DEMOCRACY, where we have the FREEDOM to CHOOSE! As Chuckie’s Wife said, this was imposed on me. I have also respected the ‘rules’, but this has gone beyond acceptable. You, and many others that post here, remind of the boiling a frog. You stick the frog in the water and slowly turn up the heat cooking them without them even realizing it.
I am not a selfish person. If I was, I would not be helping neighbors out by getting what they need. But I am tired of this nonsense and
the sheep that follow blindly without questioning the authority. If you want to hide, then do so.
Hey popcorn, stay the Hell home. There is NO new normal, we will get to our past life very quickly. You might be afraid of this virus TAKING YOU OUT quickly….but it won’t. I am going to guess that you are an elderly burned out hippy, believing everything that comes your way via MSNBC, CNN, CBS, NY Times….basic brainwashing. We don’t have a pandemic….we have an overblown flu bug. Next time you shop at the Oak Grove Safeway, be sure to straighten out the hard working employee breathing hard through his mask to stop being such a weirdo.
GET OVER IT!
“Parent”, you can leave your house anytime you want to. Nobody is telling you otherwise, except yourself. There is also nobody telling you want you can or cannot eat.The hyperbolic rhetoric and conspiracy theories people keep posting is ridiculous.
@Natalie
I leave my house every day. I eat what I want. My rant is because people are sitting around accepting these ‘rules’s as law and saying that they are the new normal.
I want to go to the park and watch a ball game – Can’t do that.
I want to go camping – Can’t do that either.
I want to go eat inside a restaurant – but wait, can’t do that either.
So yes Natalie, people are telling us what we can and can not do. People, like ILP are saying that this is the new normal. So I ask you, do you consider this Quarantine the new normal? Are you comfortable not being able to go to Hawaii without fear of being arrested when you go shopping for food because you violated quarantine as a visitor? Are you comfortable working from home, while raising children, while homeschooling, and doing all of that is 1500sf home, on a 6000sf lot? Not everyone is.
Many people have said, lets do this for those in need, the sick, those in the hospital etc … but I will say, let’s do this for those who cannot stay home 24×7 because their depression is setting in. Let’s do this for those suffering from alcoholism brought on by this Quarantine. Let’s do this for those that have lost their jobs and will lose their homes shortly because of mortgage/rent misses -yes they are not suppose to evict you, but that moratorium is only temporary. Lets do this for those that are living and need to survive.
New normal…fools. You don’t even understand when they say new normal. If you did you would not be defending it. Look at what is being done to business. Watch the unelected health officials usurp total control over ever aspect of your pitiful existence. Picking and choosing winners and losers. Keep begging for your own demise. You’re scared of a virus..The complete dumbing down of our society has definitely reached critical mass. I’m actually impressed at how effective the program worked. Y’all deserve exactly what you get for not thinking for yourselves.
Let me guess ILP.
You are retired. You live alone and you live in Rossmoor?
This is not the new norm, this is just your norm.
No, parent, this is not supposed to be a democracy. We live in a constitutional republic. We live together as a society and we elect representatives to enact laws and govern in the name of all the people on our behalf. Along with that, individual citizens have a natural obligation and responsibility to support each other and not cause harm. As a society we also levy and collect taxes to provide for the common good. We build roads, we support law enforcement and a judiciary, we are protected by a military, and a whole host of other services. If you want total freedom to choose, if you want to be a sovereign island on to yourself, by all means do so, but don’t expect to also receive the benefits of living in ours. Go find an island and stay out of ours.
And this doomsday scenario so many of you are portraying is a bit outlandish, don’t you think? This is a country that survived two world wars, the Spanish Flu pandemic, and even a Civil War. What came afterwards in each case did not look the same as it did before, but in each case, we reinvented ourselves as a nation better and stronger than before. I fully agree that changes are needed, and I am seeing those changes unfold.
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Socialism mtzman, socialism. Those are the changes you are seeing unfold much to your enjoyment. We are all GUARANTEED a total freedom to choose how we live our lives without moving to an island you piss ant, and I find it SO OFFENSIVE for you to say otherwise. So I say to you, as a son of a World War II veteran, get out. Leave. Please move to Venezuela and see how the very things you are promoting are working out, I hear the zebra leg shank cooked on a medium low from the Caracas city zoo is particularly tasty. Pair it with an aged Hugo Chavez cabernet. I’m sure you’ll be very content.
Well, guaranteed total freedom, eh? How ridiculous. Do you have total freedom to choose to live as a bank robber without consequence? Do you choose to drive on the left side of the road instead of the right and expect everyone to stay out of your way? Silly examples, of course, but this country does not, never has, and never will guarantee you total freedom to live your life solely on the basis of your desires.
By the way, I have to admit I am not the son of a WWII vet. My father was a Korean War vet, and my son just concluded 23 years service including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, but my family does include veterans of WWII (one of whom was at Pearl Harbor), WWI, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the American Revolution, and every other skirmish this country has been involved in. I am related to two presidents (Nixon), one of whom was also a general you may have heard of (Washington), another presidential candidate (WJ Bryan), a US senator (Penrose), and a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Rush), so I think my American pedigree is more than sufficient to match your snowflake mentalities.
@ Mtzman
Well aren’t you special with your knowledge of your family history. Do you live in their shadow, or do you make your own?
Freedom, Yeah, I do have absolute freedom to choose my actions. I can choose to be a bank robber, but I will pay the price. You can choose to live in fear, though with your family history that would seem an odd choice, but I will not live in fear. See, I have the FREEDOM to choose how I live. I have the freedom to make choices.
Now as to republic vs democracy, there is not much difference. A republic is where the power is held by the people who elect reps. A democracy is where the government of everyone is done through elected reps. But hey, since you are family with Nixon and Washington, you knew that! Mr Smartypants.
Yes, we have a obligation to help our fellow person and not cause harm. Hey, this current SIP is CAUSING harm to millions of people. You may not be up on your math, but a million is more than 80K. Millions of people are out of work. Hundred of thousands of victims of domestic violence/abuse no longer have a safe zone. Alcoholism is on the rise. This harm is going to last years if not a lifetime on some of these victims. We SHOULD have an obligation to HELP those folks. I do. I do morally and legally. I care about my fellow living human being.
While you are correct there isn’t a whole lot of difference in practice, in a democracy the majority prevails while in a republic the rule of law is paramount.
I guess in the manner you describe it, you do have total freedom. You can rob banks, commit homicide, whatever, and that is true wherever you are, be it the USA, a democracy, a republic, or in the most repressive dictatorship. The key to the American story, however, is our implicit agreement to follow the rule of law and to understand and accept the consequences when we don’t.
You are also correct that there are many negative aspects of the virus and the various responses to it. Personally, I would like no one to feel they have to leave the country. I would like to see everyone working together to address the issues but unfortunately, what I am seeing is a president who revels in tearing the country apart.
mtzman
Rule of the land used to be, women do not vote, slaves were acceptable, and those laws were challenged and brought down. Of course those were laws that were brought into existence through proper channels, not because a Health Authority deemed it so. We the people can challenge these ‘rules’ and with the right majority, can get them changed.
I see a president who has failed us. I see a governor that has failed us. I see a county board that has failed us.
Why are we abiding by SF mayor guidance?
Why is the governor telling folks, you went to the beach, so you cant go anymore but the rest of the state can, or you disobey my orders, you lose disaster funding?
Why is the president not providing leadership to this country as a whole?
I see a government that has failed us.
The actions being taken by governors and health authorities around the country are also being done through proper channels, and by and large courts have upheld the actions taken, both now and over the course of American history. Have mistakes been made? Absolutely. Have actions taken been revised due to rapidly changing circumstances. Yes. But what I mostly see in the efforts of governors and other state and local officials — both Democrat and Republican alike — is a sincere attempt to protect their citizenry as best as can be done in the face of their greatest obstacle, that being the president of the United States and the minions under his control. We shouldn’t be having these polarizing political battles over how to deal with a common enemy, and we wouldn’t be but for the president’s complete lack of competence, candor, and leadership.
Thanks Gav, you Jacka**
The one time of the year when I can get some real junk food. I still remember last years smoked turkey leg. Where is my opportunity to win my money back at the horse races. Thank you moa see tongue or Xi or whatever your name is.
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