The 2019 RetroFest weekend was always going to be a hard act to follow, but now, classic car enthusiasts will have to wait until 2021 for the return of the popular Chatham festival.
Officials with the Historic Downtown Chatham Business Improvement Association issued a release Friday evening advising that "in compliance with orders issued by Dr. David Colby, Chatham-Kent’s Chief Medical Officer of Health; declaring a local emergency and in adherence to all orders issued, in particular the issue banning all mass gatherings of 250+ people," the group has decided to cancel RetroFest 2020.
The 20th annual event was scheduled to take place on the weekend of May 22 and 23, 2020 and was recently recognized as one of the best festivals in Ontario.
A release from the Historic Downtown Chatham BIA said the group's board "has been carefully monitoring the COVID-19 global outbreak with regards to mitigation of risk at our planned activities" adding that "the Health and Safety of our event attendees and planners as well as the public at large is of the utmost importance to us."
The release said the group made the decision to cancel the event "based on the current information on hand in support of doing everything we can to lessen the impact of the spread of COVID-19."
The 2019 edition of Retrofest, held in conjunction with RM's 40th Anniversary attracted thousands of visitors to Chatham-Kent and raised $250,000 for local charities.
"We thank you for your understanding and look forward to presenting RetroFest to you again May 21st & 22nd 2021," said the release.