Community Closings, Cancellations, Changes in Operations

Annevar 2020: CANCELLED

The Ravenna Chamber announces with a heavy heart that Annevar 2020 is cancelled. This was an extremely hard decision to make because Annevar is not only a time honored tradition for our community but it provides a much needed boost to several Ravenna businesses each year. Many things were considered when making this decision but ultimately the safety and health of our community members as well as all the visitors to Annevar is our priority. As of right now the state will be lifting some directed health measures (one of which is no gatherings over 10 people) on May 11th. However, this will not give the green light right away for large gatherings. There will be a slow progression of gathering allowances such as 25, then 50, then 100 and so on. The exact amount of time that it will take for this progression is unknown as it will depend on evolving COVID-19 numbers but it is unlikely that gatherings of 1000+ will be permitted by the state by the June 18-21 Annevar dates. For these same reasons the Ravenna Tractor Pullers have also decided to cancel the June 12th and 13th Annevar Tractor Pull. The Chamber also discussed that even if we had the official greenlight from the state to allow 1000+ people to gather at events such as the Tractor Pull, Bull Riding, Demo Derby, Carnival Rides it is likely that only a fraction of the normal amount of people would attend as the people that normally travel to Annevar, the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions will still likely be leary of attending. With this anticipation of low attendance there would not be a way to make the large events work financially. However, the Ravenna Chamber is excited to still attempt to put on some of the smaller Annevar events or possibly some new events at a later date this year. Some of the ideas already being tossed around are doing events for the 4th of July, right before school starts or have events in collaboration with Junk Jaunt. These are only ideas at this point and the ever changing situation with COVID-19 will dictate exactly what can be done and when but in the mean-time we need to start working on ideas and options for our community to still come together in 2020 and moreover start planning the most incredible Annevar in 2021 which the dates will be June 18th,19th, & 20th! The Ravenna Chamber wants to thank all the businesses and community members for their support, we truly appreciate everything you do and we will continue to rise above and get through this together!