Annual Ocean County Fair Canceled Due To COVID-19

Photo courtesy The Ocean County Fair

BERKELEY – The Ocean County Fair, which was scheduled to run from July 8-12, has been canceled due to COVID-19.

  An announcement on the fair’s Facebook page read “It is with heavy heart that we announce the July 8th 2020 Ocean County Fair is CANCELED.

  “Rutgers Cooperative Extension/4H has put a hold on all 4H activities through August. 4H is such a strong partner of the fair that we cannot see a way forward without them this year. Please be safe, well and protected.”

  This would have been the 73rd year of the fair. It started at the Ocean County Park in Lakewood, but outgrew it in the 1980s. It was then relocated to the Robert J. Miller Airpark in Berkeley Township.

  It used to be an agricultural show, for local farmers to show off their crops. However, as farming gave way to housing and commercial development, there are very few farms left locally. The 4-H has taken on the agricultural aspect of the fair, showing off what families have grown and nurtured.