(Updated: 12 noon) The Riverhead Country Fair has been canceled due to today’s weather, organizer and Riverhead Townscape board member Tom Farruggia said this morning.
There is no rain date.
The Riverhead Country Fair has been canceled due to weather.
“It’s the first time that I can remember this happening,” fair coordinator Mary Ellen Ellwood said.
There is no rain date.
Years ago, the fair organizers set Columbus Day Monday as a rain date, but downtown businesses began objecting to it and that practice was stopped several years ago, Ellwood said.
Shutting down Main Street and the riverfront parking lots has a big impact on downtown merchants, especially restaurants, she said. “So I can understand their objections.”
Many of the fair’s vendors were also not willing to commit to two days on the holiday weekend, she said. “So it would have to be another weekend and there are already a lot of other fairs and festivals going on across the region.”
With steady rain falling since before dawn and forecast to continue throughout the day — accompanied by increasing winds gusting to 25 mph this afternoon — only a small minority of vendors even showed up, Ellwood said. Of the vendors who did arrive, most didn’t even unpack their wares, she said.
“It was a tough call, but we did what we thought was best,” Ellwood said.
The Riverhead Country Fair is hosted by Riverhead Townscape, a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization. This was the fair’s 41st year.
“It’s a whole lot of work leading up to today and this is really a let-down for everyone,” Ellwood said.
“This is our last one [of the season] and it’s our favorite festival,” said vendor Eakta Gandhi of Riverhead, who does henna body art. “We love this festival.”
Christine Mapes of Riverhead came downtown in search of funnel cake. She drove up to the Hines Catering trailer, where workers were packing up food, supplies and equipment at about 9 o’clock. It was one of the few vendors set up to do business.
“Do you have any funnel cake?” she asked hopefully. No luck. The catering truck had not even begun cooking.
“Oh well, there’s always next year,” Mapes said.
Judging took place in the vegetable decorating and agricultural competitions despite the weather. (Results will be published as soon as they are announced.)
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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