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White Covered Bridge Festival adopts ‘wait and see’ approach

3 min read
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Courtesy of JoAnne Marshall

White Covered Bridge in Garards Fort

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Courtesy of JoAnne Marshall

Carmichaels Covered Bridge

The Covered Bridge Festivals in Greene County are two more events being impacted by COVID-19.

The popular two-day festivals at White Covered Bridge and Carmichaels Covered Bridge near the Greene Academy of Art were scheduled to be held Sept. 19 and 20. The two Greene County bridges were to join eight others in Washington County as part of the Washington and Greene Counties’ Covered Bridge Festival.

However, the committee for the Carmichaels Covered Bridge Festival announced recently that the 2020 event was canceled, while White Covered Bridge Association executive director Pat Walko said last week that the association would wait until its next meeting Aug. 7 to decide whether to cancel.

And, in a recent news release, Jeff Kotula, president of Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, announced that the entire Covered Bridge Festival was being canceled, and said that although the festival attracts over 20,000 visitors a year to Washington County, the 2020 event could not be held because the current guidelines established by the Pennsylvania Department of Health limits events to 250 people.

JoAnne Marshall, director of the Greene County Tourist Promotion Agency, said that even with the announcement by Kotula, independent organizations or agencies oversee each location of the festival, and the White Covered Bridge Festival’s Association informed her in June that its members wanted to take more time to decide the fate of this year’s event.

“While the event status of the White Covered Bridge Festival is still subject to change, the volunteers of the association are taking the next month to review solutions to continue with the White Covered Bridge Festival within the state guidelines and the safety of the community, participants and volunteers,” Marshall said.

Walko said, “We feel that with the space we have on the premises, with fewer vendors, we could continue with our plans to hold a safe festival. “This includes stringent efforts in sanitizing vendor tables, golf carts and portable bathrooms, and insisting that all vendors be extremely vigilant and offer hand sanitizing at their tables and step up their own safety protocols as well.”

She added that all volunteers will be asked COVID-19-related safety questions before they are permitted to assist at the event, and that “if they fail, they will not be able to work.”

Efforts will also be made to encourage social distancing and space out dining tables much further apart, she said.

Throughout the past few months, Walko said the association has been working with county officials to address and adhere to all safety measures.

“This festival is so very important to everyone affiliated with our association, and we would love to hold the 2020 event for residents, to provide some sense of normalcy during these uncertain times,” she said. “But we know that safety is the most important priority. If there should be some order by the state or another shutdown, we will have no choice but to cancel.

“That is why we are adamant when we say ‘wait and see’ and ‘proceed with caution,'” she said.

Updates regarding the White Covered Bridge Festival will be posted on the “WC Bridge Association” Facebook page. Information may also be found on the Greene County tourism website, www.visitgreene.org, or call the tourism office at 724-627-TOUR.

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