The annual Easter egg hunt at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds will not take place this year, with COVID being cited as the biggest reason for the cancellation. InkFreeNews photo by Lasca Randels.

By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The annual Easter egg hunt at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds will not take place this year, with COVID being cited as the biggest reason for the cancellation.

The egg hunt, which has been held for the past decade, generally attracts close to 2,000 people each year.

“The reason for canceling it is 99 percent due to COVID,” said Fair Board President Kevin Harris. “We’re still having positive cases in our county.”

Harris said they reached out to Teresa Reed and Bob Weaver at the Kosciusko County Health Department for guidance.

“Their suggestion was ‘It’s probably not a good idea,’” Harris said. “They didn’t tell us ‘no,’ they did not say we shouldn’t have it, they said it probably wasn’t a good idea at this time.”

The egg hunt is generally held the Saturday before Easter. At the 2019 hunt, 28,000 eggs were put out.

“If you consider that we have around 1,000 kids come out and they each bring a parent or two or grandparents, we can get nearly 2,000 people. We can’t keep people far enough apart. We just don’t have the manpower to police it,” Harris said. “We can ask that people wear masks, but…we don’t feel we can keep people safe.”

Harris said the event has been a success with good sponsorship and community involvement.

“If it rains, we’ve had it down in the barns so it has always been a rain or shine event for us,” Harris said. “We’ve given away bicycles and things like that with the magic egg deal.”

The fair board hopes to re-establish the event in 2022. 

“We are planning to have it next year, planning to continue having it years and years from now,” Harris said. “This is just…we are so disappointed. It’s one of our favorite events that we have out here because we have so many kids come out and they have so much fun.”

Harris said making the decision to cancel the event was a tough one.

“We’re trying to keep the community safe,” Harris said. “That’s got to be our foremost thought.”

The county fair is scheduled to take place July 11-17, although Harris said they are struggling for sponsorship at this time. 

“We’ve talked to the carnival people, and as of this time they said they are planning on coming to our fair,” Harris said.

Featured grandstand events for the week of the 2021 fair include a rodeo on Monday, monster trucks Tuesday, horse harness racing Wednesday, the demolition derby Friday and a truck & tractor pull on Saturday. There is no scheduled event for Thursday at this time.

“Our grandstand events are free this year and will be included in our gate price,” Harris said. “Theres a price you pay at the gate and then you can walk in and out of the grandstands.” 

The fair’s annual barbecue fundraiser is also being held Saturday, March 13, at the fairgrounds, with both carry-out and dine-in options. Carry-out will be available from 3:30-7:30 p.m. Dine-in hours are from 4-7:30 p.m.

The $10 meal includes a pulled pork sandwich, cowboy beans and coleslaw. You may also purchase just the pulled pork at a cost of $10 per pound.