The Hawaii Farm Bureau has once again canceled the 2021 Hawaii State Farm Fair due to the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Although Hawaii’s vaccination rate is over 50% and COVID-19 daily case counts and positivity rates have been trending down, there’s still too much uncertainty whether we would able to hold such a large gathering like the Farm Fair safely,” said Hawaii Farm Bureau Executive Director Brian Miyamoto in a news release. “The health and safety of the attendees, volunteers, farmers, ranchers, exhibitors, staff, and community remain of the utmost importance. We look forward to a time when we can safely gather in large numbers again.’

The annual event is usually held in mid-July at Kualoa Ranch. In recent years, its attendance was at about 15,000 over two days, with hundreds more volunteering.

This is the second year in a row that the bureau has had to cancel the fair due to the pandemic.

“We had high hopes to possibly be in a better position this year to put on this annual event, but unfortunately, the timing and uncontrollable factors have caused us to cancel the event this year,” said Miyamoto.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau started the Farm Fair in 1962 to promote public awareness of Hawaii’s agricultural and ranching industry. If not for the cancellations last year and this year, this would have been the fair’s 59th annual event.

In addition to sampling and purchasing local produce, families visited farm animals, attended workshops and participated in hands-on activities.

The annual event is sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau in partnership with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and Hawaii State 4-H Livestock Council.

Miyamoto says he anticipates being able to go forward with the event next year, in the summer of 2022.