The Kenai Watershed Forum has announced the cancellation of the 2020 Kenai River Festival. Their goal is to prioritize the health of community families, friends, and neighbors throughout Alaska.
According to a press release issued on Wednesday, they will work with partners and supporters to refund those that had commitments to the 2020 festival. They also encourage all partners to extend their commitment to the 2020 festival into 2021, to support and sustain the Kenai River Festival into the future.
Branden Bornemann, Executive Director of the Kenai Watershed Forum, says cancelling the festival came with a heavy heart: “To speak to the festival itself, it will absolutely bounce back. That was part of our thought process here and that was part of the ultimate final decision was that closing this year due to the pandemic and thoughts of safety for all of our hundreds of volunteers, and the public that enjoy the festival, our vendors, our musicians, all of our wonderful local businesses: we wanted to preserve their safety, and part of that is sustaining the festival for many years to come.”
He added that they still plan to hold the 30th anniversary Kenai River Festival in 2021 on June 11 – 13, and that planning will be underway soon.
One big message the Watershed Forum is communicating is that the cancellation of the Kenai River Festival does not mean that pieces of the festival will not find their way back in the community later in the year: “In the meantime, we’re also thinking about things once everybody has a clear picture of what the future looks like. There may be pieces of the festival that we try to pull off this year. In our conversations, part of the festival is that we hold the Run For The River. We’ve talked about if things are better and folks feel comfortable coming out in August or September, whatever that looks like, that we could potentially bring a piece of the festival out and still hold that.”
For those with any questions, be aware that the Kenai Watershed Forum office is closed and the staff is working from home. Mr. Bornemann can be reached at [email protected] or at (907) 953-2605.
