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
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