Dog Days of Summer Festival canceled

Organizers of the Dog Days of Summer Festival have announced that the festival will be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, organizers Annette Babich and Mal Meehan announced that they were canceling the festival July 17.

“After many discussions about the uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic and thinking through the many logistics of our festival, Mal and I have made the difficult decision to cancel the Dog Days of Summer Festival this year,” Babich said.

“We truly want to continue to support dog rescue efforts and local initiatives, but the safety of our festival guests has to be paramount. We will be bringing the Dog Days of Summer Festival back in 2021 and we hope to see you all there, safe and healthy,” she said.

The festival’s inaugural year in 2019 helped adopt 12 dogs and raise money for local charities. The plan for this year was for the festival to be extended to five hours, with social distancing and mask requirements, and four bands playing on the outdoor stage. 

Babich and Meehan had decided to go forward with the festival at the time because Dogfish Head was still planning to run its Dogfish Dash. But Dogfish Head canceled the race July 13, leading Babich and Meehan to agree to cancel their festival as well.