The Virgil Stampede is a no-go again this year.

Richard Wall, president of the Virgil Business Association, which puts on the annual carnival, said the event usually attracts thousands of people, and with heightened security concerns over the past few years, there was no way to safely manage the crowds safely during the pandemic.

“We don’t really know how he could possibly manage an event like that with proper social distancing,” he told The Lake Report.

Cancelling it was the “practical decision,” he said.

“Security has been a concern for us for the last four or five years, so if you can imagine how much heightened an issue social distancing would be. It certainly wouldn’t be something that we would be able to manage, especially on a volunteer basis.”

With restaurants and tourism-related operations being the hardest hit industries, the association decided it was not the right time to hold a major event that might compete with businesses trying to recover.

“For us to fundraise when they’re just hopefully opening up again is probably not the right thing to do. So we’re just going to lay back one more year.”

He said the association is looking at two or three “possible” options for a fundraiser near the end of summer, but nothing has been finalized yet.