Despite Uncertainty, Schaghticoke Fair Announces 2021 Dates

While many Capital Region outdoor venues are planning to reopen with limited capacity in the next month or so, Governor Cuomo has been non-committal on the reopening of state and county fairs. In fact, the Governor recently expressed his love for the Great New York State Fair in hopes of having a decision soon saying, “I personally love the fair. I love what we’ve done with the fair...If there’s any way we can open it safely, we will.”

Despite the relative uncertainty, one local fair has gone ahead and announced their dates for the upcoming 2021 season. The Great Schaghticoke Fair has been one of the areas most popular for over 200 years and despite the pandemic, they appear primed for another Summer of fried food, agriculture, livestock, demolition derby's, live music and pig races.

On Sunday much to the delight of many, The Great Schaghticoke Fair posted this on their Facebook:

"Dates for the 2021 Fair are September 1-6.

At this time, we are planning to have a fair with all of the great Agriculture & Entertainment you have come to love (& miss)! More details to follow shortly!"

-Great Schaghticoke Fair Facebook.

Whoever was responsible for answering hundreds of comments and questions has been quite busy over the past few days, but they were doing a nice job of keeping up. Excited fans asked questions about limiting capacity, purchasing tickets, social distancing and more. A fairly generic, stock answer seemed to be helpful for those inquiring minds.

This was written on their Facebook page on Tuesday morning:

"We are planning a fair that would run as close to "normal" as possible. We are fortunate enough to have over 100 acres to spread out on. We believe that entry into the fairgrounds will not be limited. It's likely you would see limitations on the number of people who can enter a building at the same time, or social distancing within a line or on a ride. We don't *believe* actually walking onto the grounds would require limitations. With that said, it's impossible to say now what government regulations will be in September. We will work closely with local officials to make sure we are within compliance and keeping people safe." -Great Schaghticoke Fair Facebook.