Mount Ida Area Chamber cancels Three Rivers Heritage Festival

DEWAYNE HOLLOWAY/dewayne@mcnews.online
MOUNT IDA – Chamber President Pat Smith has announced that the Mount Ida Area Chamber of Commerce has made the difficult decision to cancel the inaugural Three Rivers Heritage Festival set for September 25 and 26 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith shared that the primary source of the economy in this county is tourism. It has always been the position of the chamber that they want to draw tourists to Montgomery County. Events sponsored by the Chamber in the past have focused on drawing tourists to the area.
In times past this included the Good Ol’ Days Festival in the spring and the Quartz, Quiltz and Craftz Festival in the fall. Both events have been successful venues in drawing tourists to the area over the years. However, after much discussion with vendors, local business owners, residents and visitors the decision was made to merge the two events into a new bigger, better event.
This new event, The Three Rivers Heritage Festival, will focus on the history of Montgomery County and how the county has evolved. The new festival will include demonstrations, and historical items that expose visitors to how life was lived in the past in Montgomery County.
The new event was set to take place September 25 and 26 on the courthouse square. It would incorporate all the best elements of the past festivals while utilizing the aforementioned historical elements. However, with the onset of COVID-19 and ongoing restrictions and social distancing mandates issued by state and federal officials hosting a festival has become increasingly more difficult.
Chamber President Pat Smith stated that growing numbers of positive COVID-19 cases led to the cancellation of the Chamber Volunteer of the Year Awards Banquet in April. With time the numbers have only grown.
She added that she has spent much of her time since March studying the virus and the immune system and has discovered that the two best ways to avoid COVID-19 is the outdoors and social distancing. Smith stated that regardless of how attractive the prospect of drawing tourists into the county may be through the new festival, the Chamber doesn’t see a way to do so safely.
As a result of this fact and after careful thought and consideration the Mount Ida Area Chamber of Commerce has decided to cancel this year’s inaugural Three Rivers Heritage Festival.
While the Chamber understands that the festival would be held outside, they didn’t see a way to configure the festival in a way to assure the health of everyone involved. The nature of a festival creates enclosure through vendor booths and demonstrations. This makes it almost impossible to guarantee a safe social distance of six feet or more.
The Chamber is already making plans for next year’s inaugural Three Rivers Heritage Festival to be held in September 2021.
For more information regarding the Mount Ida Area Chamber of Commerce and what they offer call (870) 867-2821, or stop by the Chamber Visitor Center located at 125 Highway 270 in Mount Ida. They can also be reached through their website at mtidachamber.com.