San Rafael, CA – The Marin County Fair is launching a series of virtual competitions and activities to engage the community as a result of the canceled fair this summer.
The program will begin this week on the fair's
Facebook and
Instagram pages. Weekly competitions will include decorated foods, trash-to-treasure artworks, pet costume contests, funny family photos, poetry, coordinated family dance routines, and more stay-at-home activities.
With most residents unable to access art supply stores and other resources because of the COVID-19 emergency, the virtual competitions are designed to comply with the County's shelter-in-place order and focus on projects that can be done at home.
“The cancellation of the fair was a blow for our whole community, and we appreciate the importance of the competitive exhibits program to foster creativity, togetherness, family participation, and joy," said Gabriella C. Calicchio, Director of Cultural Services. “We are launching a virtual and modified competitive exhibits program to engage fair fans, keep our community creatively active, and provide some levity during our shelter-in-place order."
Competitions will be announced each week on Facebook and Instagram, and people will have one week to post their entries in the replies section that week. Virtual blue ribbons will be awarded to the winners, and each winner will receive a pair of tickets to the 2021 Marin County Fair.
Fair staff members will post links of “how-to” videos about juggling, baking, cheese making, animal husbandry, music lessons, and more featuring some of the fair's favorite partners and artists.
“Fair staff are all deployed as disaster service workers,” Calicchio added, “but as producers of the annual fair we appreciate how important the event is to the community and are making the time to ensure the community remains safe but also has some fun while sheltering.”
The 2020 Marin County Fair – The Soaring 2020s – was canceled because the County has reserved the Marin Center campus and fairgrounds to serve as a vital resource in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Marin Center facilities and offices have been closed since March 13 per the shelter-in-place mandate, and fair staff members were deployed in other emergency response roles.
Follow the fair social media channels:
The next Marin County Fair will be July 1-5, 2021.