On Friday afternoon, the Boone County Chamber of Commerce released this statement:

After much consideration, deliberation, research and countless hours of working to find

solutions that would provide a safe and fun environment for patrons that would attend the

Pufferbilly Days™ festival, the Boone County Chamber of Commerce has decided to cancel

the celebration for 2020. A number of factors played a part in arriving at this decision:

• Guidance from the Boone County Board of Health:

– Despite earlier projections in April and May of a lessening of COVID-19 cases to a level

of nearly eliminating positive test outcomes by September, current case numbers have

not declined to the levels previously expected and new projections show the potential for

a reoccurrence by that time this year.

– With the Farm Progress Show and the IMCA Supernationals, two major events typically

attended by visitors from outside Boone County and the state, and that immediately

precede Pufferbilly Days™, the potential for a surge or hotspot of cases greatly increases

and could substantially tax local healthcare resources beyond capacity.

• Currently two of Pufferbilly Days™ key festival buildings are in use by Boone County

Public Health, providing drive-up COVID-19 testing, and we are committed to their

continued use in this manner.

• Early indications show that it will be difficult to find enough volunteers to staff key

locations for each of the planned Pufferbilly Days™ activities and across the festival

grounds, making it difficult to operate events.

• Key event registrations are far behind normal numbers for this time of the year signaling

the likelihood of considerable funding shortfalls and putting future festivals at risk.

In attempting to stay on course for the 2020 Pufferbilly Days™ festival it was our hope and

intention to provide a “light at the end of the tunnel”, a degree of normalcy, and an

opportunity for the citizens of Boone County to finally get out and enjoy what makes our

area special. In arriving at this difficult decision today we believe that the challenge to

provide a safe and fun environment is unattainable, financially unfeasible, and would leave

our loyal festival-goers too vulnerable to the transmission of the coronavirus.

The Pufferbilly Days™ Steering Committee sincerely appreciates the many hours and

dedication from it’s event chairs and other volunteers in preparing for the 2020 celebration

and plans to be back strong in 2021