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New England Folk Festival canceled over coronavirus concerns
By adamg on Mon, 03/09/2020 - 1:20pm
New England Folk Festival Association President Janet Yeracaris announced today the group has called off its annual festival in Acton next month because of Covid-19, in part because part of what makes the festival so special is what also would put attendees at risk: People of all ages holding hands and dancing face to face in tight quarters.
In an announcement today, Yeracaris writes:
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus is very serious. The news of the potential trajectory of the disease is discouraging, and the situation presents concerns that seem likely only to worsen in the next weeks and months. We have every reason to believe recommendations or requirement for restricting public gatherings will only increase between now and the end of April. A speedy resolution seems extremely unlikely, and we did not want to delay our decision, in order to allow performers, organizers, and attendees ample time to rearrange their travel schedules and commitments. ...
Many of the features that make our Festival the wonderful, community-building event that it is make it especially problematic for this kind of public health crisis. We gather people from all over the country (some from overseas), crowd young and old into enclosed spaces, and encourage people to hold hands and dance face-to-face, in close proximity. No amount of handwashing can overcome the potential for disease transmission in this environment. All the recommendations for reducing the impact in the spread of a new disease include “social distancing,” and we feel it is the responsible decision to respect those guidelines.
We are heartbroken at having to cancel this Festival. For so many of us, NEFFA marks the coming of Spring, and the year will not feel right without it. But in the end, this is also recreational activity, and public health and safety are critically important. We can and will find other ways to celebrate our community, and we will set our sights on next year.
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Comments
Also, the event was to be in a public school building
so it seems likely that the town of Acton encouraged or even required the cancellation.
I'm hoping that later warm-weather outdoor music events can still happen, perhaps with less dancing.
Meanwhile...
Marty Walsh is putting untold thousands at risk by holding the Marathon and the 17th parade. All because of the money that will be lost and not the lives.
Los Angeles held its marathon yesterday
Their event is about the same size and scale as the Boston Marathon. If that turns out well, then we should be able to do it too. Could the organizers encourage spectators to spread out over the 26.2 miles instead of concentrating in certain popular areas such as Kenmore Square, Coolidge Corner, and Wellesley Square?
St. Patrick's Day parades
have been cancelled in Ireland (and San Francisco), which may give Mayor Walsh some political cover to cancel ours as well. However, that may just cause parade-goers to head south to Scituate instead.
I think they should cancel the breakfast and parade.
I think they should cancel the breakfast and parade. Too dangerous to expose people. The breakfast is a packed event and the crowds at the parade, esp. at the front are like 3-4 people deep. Doctors say you need to be 3 feet away.
Walsh is notorious for this
His priorities are skewed. Remember the time during the "snowpocalypse" of 2015 when he cleared Boylston Street of snow like magic so suburbanites and tourists could view the Patriots Parade while people in Boston neighborhoods lived like refugees, waiting endlessly for snow to be cleared?
Is Walsh in charge of the Marathon?
I guess he could probably prohibit the use of the Boston streets for it, but it feels like there's a lot of groups involved who would want input on that decision, from the various cities and towns it goes through, as well as the state, the BAA, the various sponsors and professional organizations who support and work with it, etc.
The BAA would never allow the Marathon
to be cancelled (witness the near nor'easter a couple of years back).
Whether the Marathon should be cancelled is another story. And not just because of the COVID-19 risk either.
Tell us why it should be
Tell us why it should be cancelled roadman? A crowded train for your commute home that day?
Not even sure its achievable if they wanted to
It's all on public roads. They can cancel the official marathon, and you'd still probably get hundreds, if not thousands, of people showing up to run the course. Can't really ban spectators, either. They might be better off running it but trying to push people to spread out and not crowd together as much as possible, providing easy deferrals for any runners who think they're sick this year, and providing as much sanitizer etc for both the runners and the crowds.
It's achievable
If the official event is cancelled and "hundreds, if not thousands, of people (show) up to run the course" wouldn't they be breaking the law? Blocking public roads. Jaywalking at the very least.
You make it sound like it's an out of control juggernaut that cannot be stopped. Hardly.
You know it's not Ebola
At this point, the cat is out of the bag and it's likely that people you know will get COVID19. And you know what? If they are under 70, they'll almost certainly survive. Restricting people from dancing is probably sensible. Cancelling the marathon, that is still 7 weeks away, seems over the top.
Restricting people from
Now I've got the theme from Footloose running through my head.
Footloose is greatest movie Evvvaaaaa
"From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer or so that their crops would be plentiful or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate. And that, that is the dancing that we’re talking about. Aren’t we told in Psalm 149: ‘Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Let them praise His name in the dance’?…It was King David. King David, who we read about in Samuel, and, and what did David do? What did David do? What did David do? ‘David danced before the Lord with all his might, leaping, leaping and dancing before the Lord.’ Leaping and dancing! Ecclesiastes assures us that there is a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh and a time to weep. A time to mourn and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of, of celebrating life. It’s the way it was in the beginning. It’s the way it’s always been. It’s the way it should be now."
Domino effect
Well you know that dancing leads to drinkin' which leads to kissin' and then to you know what.
We've got trouble
with a capital T that rhymes with C that stands for coronavirus!
Wrong musical.
Wrong musical.
...and now I have a script idea for a 70s disaster movie. Quick - someone get me Charlton Heston, George Kennedy, Jack Lemmon and Shelley Winters!
what does "almost certainly" mean?
9/10, 99/100, and 999/1000 can all be called "almost certain," but the difference between 90% and 99.9% matters.
The mayor canceled the St.
The mayor canceled the St. Patrick's parade. I would be shocked if the marathon isn't canceled or at least scaled down to elite runners only. We'll see.
If Los Angeles can run a full marathon
with all runners, as they did yesterday, why shouldn't we?
Running isn't the issue
Sidewalks densely packed with spectators is the issue. Is that a problem they have in LA?
Los Angeles marathon route
This was the route of the Los Angeles marathon. It's a pretty densely populated urban area, much more so than the first half of Boston's marathon. It's not the suburban sprawl of (for instance) the Valley or Orange County.
(I lived in Santa Monica, the endpoint of this event, from 1979-84.)
Not alone
A contra dance weekend called Beantown Stomp set for late March canceled for the same reason.