photo by: File photo

The Maple Leaf Festival Committee will announce Sept. 1 the fate of the 2020 festival after consulting with county and state officials about health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic stemming from crowds like this one during a recent festival.

As of now, Maple Leaf Festival organizers continue to plan for the annual October arts and crafts festival that draws an estimated 30,000 people to Baldwin City.

However, Mike Curran, chairman of the Maple Leaf Festival, said concerns about holding the festival during the COVID-19 pandemic could cancel this year’s event, which is scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 17-18. The plan now is to make a final decision on the fate of the 2020 festival in about three months after consultation with the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Baldwin City officials, he said.

“We will make an announcement Sept. 1,” he said. “It depends on what county and state health officials have to say.”

Meanwhile, the festival committee is considering what elements of the festival, which include more than 400 arts and crafts booths, about 25 food vendors, a carnival and a parade, may have to be modified to reduce health risks, Curran said. The festival is largely an outdoor event, although some arts and crafts booths are in the Lumberyard Arts Center and the Baldwin City fire station.

“We’re still in those types of discussions about the things we might have to modify or not modify,” Curran said.

Many Maple Leaf vendors signed up and paid booth fees for this year’s festival before they left the 2019 festival. Curran said that in addition to that base, the festival committee was still fielding requests from vendors interested in the 2020 event. As of Friday, no vendor had withdrawn an application because of concern about the pandemic, he said.

“If by chance we have vendors who want to withdraw, they have two options,” he said. “They can have a full refund or they can carry the booth fee over to the 2021 festival.”