For the first time since World War II the Iowa State Fair, the state’s largest annual event, has been canceled.

The Iowa State Fair Board voted 11 to 2 to cancel the event Wednesday due to COVID-19 concerns.

“We are heartbroken we can’t be together this August,” said fair officials on the Iowa State Fair website. “We tirelessly analyzed all the unique traditions at the Iowa State Fair and believe it will be safer given the current COVID-19 situation. That will give us enough time to properly get ready for the Iowa State Fair you know and love – Aug. 12-22, 2021.”

In the history of Iowa only five state fairs have ever been canceled.

There was not a fair in 1898 due to the World’s Fair in Omaha and the Spanish-American War. The fair was also a wartime casualty from 1942-1945, according to the fair’s website.

This year’s livestock showings’ future is still up in the air. Fair officials are looking at other possibilities to provide an opportunity for 4-H and FFA exhibitors to showcase their livestock projects.

People who already bought tickets will be able to keep them for the 2021 fair. If ticket holders want a refund they will receive an email with instructions in the next 30 days. Ticket holders can either ask for a refund or a gift that is the price to the fair.

Anyone who bought tickets in person and wants a refund will need to mailed:

• Attn: Ticket Office, PO Box 57130, Des Moines, Iowa 50317 by July 15.

“We are as heartbroken as you about the decision to postpone this year, but we know it is the right thing to do,” the website stated.

Marshall County’s Iowa State University Extension personnel hope kids will still get a chance to show their livestock and static exhibits.

“We are still planning on holding our static and livestock events for the Marshall County Fair,” said Amy Pieper, Iowa State University Extension Marshall County director.

Marshall County’s livestock showing will be different this year.

“We will have come and go shows,” Pieper said. “Each day we’ll have a show with a different species and they will bring the animals in the morning and take them home at the end of those shows.”

The static exhibits will be judged in a non-conference style. Those exhibits can move on to the Iowa State Fair.

“My hope is the decision will be made to judge those projects at the state fair level,” Pieper said.

Iowa’s 4-H is still considering if or how it could do its livestock shows.

“The goal with our 4-H program is to give the kids their opportunity to do their projects that they worked on and have it be judged and communicate with a judge on how their project went,” Pieper said. “It will definitely be different, but we hope they received the same outcome in how their projects are judged.”

Those livestock and static events in Marshall County may get a chance to be seen by the public, albeit not in person.

“We’re working on and hoping to have the Marshall County fair’s livestock shows live streamed,” Pieper said.

The COVID-19 pandemic might still allow for 4H and FFA exhibits and livestock, but it has impacted the family-fun carnival atmosphere at fairs across Iowa.

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Contact Thomas Nelson at (641)753-6611 or tnelson@timesrepublican.com