Organisers of a popular event say this year’s instalment has been cancelled due to uncertainties surrounding coronavirus.
The Grasmere Sports Committee, organisers of the Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show, has announced that after long and careful consideration the August event is to be cancelled due to the continued uncertainties around COVID-19.
The committee had been planning and debating every possible option for 2021, including a slimmed-down event with far fewer attendees. The earlier expectation was that the COVID threat would be lessening over the summer, but, with variants continuing to show powerful effects around the globe, the risk and impact of proceeding and then having to cancel last-minute finally tipped the scale.
Competitors and their families are central to the show and many travel long distances just for this event. There is no certainty as to conditions or quarantining on the day, and it seemed wrong to expect others to make these decisions, organisers said.
The costs and resources required to stage even a smaller show are significant. That – paired with the continued unknowns on the health front – it was decided energy would be better used on the August 2022 show.
To this end, planning for the 2022 event will start in September, providing almost a year in which to produce a vibrant ‘renaissance’ for the traditional Lakeland show.
In the meantime, the show will consider as many ways as possible to foster an appreciation of the Lakeland life and culture that it exists to support.
Speaking on behalf of Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show, the chairman John Hibbert, said: “We debated this at length with a firm ambition to hold a Sports Day of some kind, but finally found the risks to everyone just too great. The Committee directors agreed that to try to proceed in any form in 2021 would be a mistake.
“We are confident that the love of the show will enable us to attract crowds in 2022 and build back better than ever, delivering the flavour of traditional Lakeland culture and sports as we have done for over 150 years.”
