COVID cancels concerts, festivals

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Organizers remained hopeful, but eventually had to err on the side of caution.

Both the Graham County Festival Board and Stecoah Valley Center Board of Directors opted to cancel Music on the Square, the Graham County Arts & Crafts Festival and the Stecoah Heritage Festival last week. The organizations both cited COVID-19 as the motivating factor.

The Graham County Festival Board originally postponed the Music on the Square series until this month. However, with Gov. Roy Cooper keeping North Carolina under Phase 2 restrictions – which include a cap of 25 people at outdoor gatherings – the decision was made to look toward 2021.

“The board felt like canceling these events is for the safety of the community as a whole,” a statement posted Aug. 5 to the board’s Facebook page reads. “We hope next year we will not have to deal with this pandemic.”

Stecoah Valley Center Director Beth Fields echoed the sentiments concerning its Heritage Festival in an email to The Graham Star on Sunday.

“The 24th annual Heritage Festival is canceled for 2020,” Fields said. “The Stecoah Valley Center’s Board of Directors feels this decision is in the best interest of our community’s safety.”

Stecoah’s “An Appalachian Evening” concert series has only been postponed, as the center’s board is still holding out to have the series occur via livestream. Funding recently awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts would pay the musicians.

“Again, the safety of our community and music community is driving decisions at this time,” Fields said of the concert series.