Andy Beshear Approves Plans for 2020 Kentucky State Fair, GREAT News for Football Season

by:Nick Roush06/10/20

@RoushKSR

Kentucky State Fair | FB

Ladies and Gentleman, we’re one step closer to attending live sporting events.

Tuesday evening Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced there will be a state fair this summer, approving plans for the event to take place in Louisville from Aug. 20-30.

To try to make the event safe, all workers will be masked, aisles for patrons to walk through will be widened and moving only one-way in some areas. Hand sanitation stands will be added, people must stand six-feet apart in line at the Midway and the concert area will more than double, growing from 1.9 acres to 5.2 acres. Indoor fair areas will also shrink to keep the COVID-19 field hospital in place.

Last year more than 600,000 people attended the 10-day event. Organizers expect about half that crowd this summer, averaging around 30,000 patrons a day.

You’re probably thinking to yourself, “But Roush, this isn’t a sporting event. It’s the fair and I don’t care one lick about the state fair.” Just hold on for a second and let me tell you why you should care.

If the Governor is willing to let people attend the state fair in August, the next logical step is to allow sports fans to attend two major events that take place down the street the following weekend, the opening of college football season and the Kentucky Derby. Of course, the nature of sporting events is different. Instead of walking down aisles through an exposition center, patrons sit next to one another in stands. Even so, Churchill Downs and Cardinal Stadium are right next to the Fair and Expo Center. Having the biggest event of the year at one venue but not at the other two would make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

While we have not officially been given the green light to attend sporting events this fall around the Commonwealth, the latest move by the Governor has that light looking yellow.

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