BERNARDSTON — The Bernardston Gas Engine Show and Flea Market has been canceled for the second year in a row due to restrictions related to the lasting COVID-19 pandemic and healthy safety concerns.
The United Church of Bernardston, which organizes the annual event, announced on Facebook over the weekend that the show cannot be run up to organizers’ standards amid the current restrictions. So, instead of running a show that is not up to par with what longtime attendees have come to expect, the Bernardston Gas Engine Show and Flea Market will instead “return in 2022 with our engines putting, our vendors selling, our tractors displaying, our food booths open and our activities at 100 percent.”
Held every Memorial Day weekend for 43 years up until 2020, the Bernardston Gas Engine Show and Flea Market is normally the largest fundraiser of the year for the United Church of Bernardston. Proceeds typically support the church’s mission work, locally and globally.
David Neil, pastor at the United Church of Bernardston, said board members made the “painful” decision to cancel this year’s event just last week. He said members took a few days between their meeting and making the public announcement as they let the reality sink in.
“It was a really tough decision,” Neil said. “We put it off and had been thinking about it for a long time.”
He said Memorial Day weekend was coming fast, and board members had researched what they would have to do to meet COVID-19 health safety guidelines. Unfortunately, Neil said holding the event would have required “pretty serious restrictions.” Food services would have been limited, market vendors would be limited and those browsing would need extra room between tables, one-way traffic would need to be directed around the grounds and other activities wouldn’t be able to take place at all.
“It would have been a mere shadow of what it was before,” Neil said. “Plus, who’s to say having hundreds or thousands of people coming in to Bernardston would be safe. If one person were to get COVID from it, it’s not worth it.”
Neil said he recognized people were looking forward to this year’s event and may be disappointed, but he said the United Church of Bernardston “can’t take the chance” that someone would fall ill. Instead, Neil said, “we’ll wait and do it the way we really want to be able to” in 2022.
In place of the fundraising elements of the Bernardston Gas Engine Show and Flea Market, Neil said the church will likely hold smaller, supplemental events throughout the year — though it will be hard to reach the full amount that is normally raised through the annual event. Last year, the church held a socially distanced tag sale in its parking lot, with many items that are normally featured at the Gas Engine Show and Flea Market.
Neil said he is grateful to those who have been able to donate to the church over the past year, and noted that “in some ways” expenses have been down because there is less activity within the church. Still, it hasn’t been the same in 2020 without the church’s regular roast beef suppers and other fundraisers.
“These days,” he said, “you just try and do the best you can.”
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.