(Audubon) The decision to cancel T-Bone Days in Audubon was not one that the committee took lightly.
Derek Deist with the T-Bone Days Committee says a lot of extra time in meetings took place before they made the big announcement last week. The committee considered input from groups and other individuals, took into account guidelines from Governor Kim Reynolds, and ultimately felt it was best to cancel. “We looked at our schedule of events to determine which ones we could do and which ones we probably shouldn’t do. After considering the amount of work that it would take to put on the few events we could do we determined it wouldn’t be the same T-Bone that everyone was used to and we were worried about a reduced crowd.”
Not having a celebration will leave a void once the first weekend of August rolls around. “It’s a big hit. That’s something we look forward to each year. It’s when we celebrate not only the cattle industry, but the community of Audubon. That’s our big town festival where we celebrate our progress we’ve made and if you’ve noticed in the last few years we’ve had a lot of good projects and good things going on.”
Deist says the committee held off as long as they could before making the final determination. “We finally had to make a decision and couldn’t keep delaying it. It wasn’t unanimous. There were a couple of individuals that still felt we should work out a way to figure out a limited number of events that we could do, but it was the majority opinion that we should cancel it for 2020 and start planning for 2021.”
The committee notes this decision is in the best interest of protecting the health of the community, visitors and volunteers. Fireworks will still be provided after the Figure 8 races. The “Operation T-Bone Cattle Auction” will still take place on Tuesday, August 4th at 9:00 a.m. in Anita.
