Arts and crafts fair canceled
Staff writer
A beloved Hillsboro tradition won’t happen this year.
Planners of the Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair, scheduled for Sept. 19, announced Monday the event was cancelled. This would have been its 51st year.
“We regret to inform you that the 2020 Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns,” organizers wrote. “This was a very hard decision and was not made lightly. We have to do our best to keep vendors, shoppers, and our local community safe during this time. We are already looking forward to the 2021 fair and hope you will join us!”
Hillsboro mayor Lou Thurston said he was sad the event wouldn’t take place but understood why the decision had to be made.
“We just can’t have those large gatherings,” Thurston said. “A lot of people are going to be impacted.”
Vendors, businesses, visitors, youth groups, and civic clubs that host fundraisers at the annual fair will feel the effects of the cancelation, he said.
The fair draws shoppers and vendors nationwide. It offers décor, art, jewelry, bath and spa items, baby and children’s items, woodcrafts, and delicacies such as Hillsboro-made sausage, beirocks and zwieback, and typical festival food.
Marion’s Art in the Park festival, ordinarily held the same day, still is being advertised.
Recreation director Margo Yates, who coordinates Marion’s event, could not be reached for comment.
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