DuPage County Fine Arts Festival Called Off Due To COVID-19 Concerns

WHEATON, Ill. (CBS) -- Due to continuing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, the DuPage County Fine Arts Festival planned for September has been called off.

The DuPage County Board Ad Hoc Committee on the Fine Arts voted Tuesday to cancel the festival, which was supposed to be held Sept. 24-26 at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton.

"While I am disappointed that we cannot conduct the festival in September as we had hoped, there is nothing more important than the health and safety of our residents," Committee Chair Lynn LaPlante said in a news release. "I know we made the right decision on their behalf."

DuPage County Health Department Executive Director Karen Ayala said at the committee meeting that transmission of the novel coronavirus is high, and the especially contagious delta variant is driving the situation – as is the case throughout the country and much of the world.

"We know that the delta variant is more contagious than previous strains of the virus," Ayala said in the release. "Although our community vaccination rate is very high, there are many individuals in our community who continue to be at high risk for infection, including children younger than 12 years old who are not eligible to be vaccinated. When community transmission of COVID-19 is high, we must prioritize maintaining essential community activities and services including health care and safe in-person learning environments in school for our children. For this reason, we support the Fine Arts' Festival Committee's decision to postpone their community event until a time when large groups of all ages can safely gather and celebrate the arts without risking further transmission of this dangerous virus."

The hope is that the festival will be held in the spring of next year.