SAN ANTONIO — A fall festival originally scheduled to take place on Nov. 6 which was expected to draw crowds in the hundreds to La Villita has been cancelled amid a resurgent novel coronavirus spread in the city.
One thousand tickets had been sold for the Conservation Society's Fall Heritage Festival, drawing skepticism from members of the community about why local leaders would green-light such a large event at a time when bars were largely forced to remain closed during the ongoing pandemic.
After a period in September that saw new cases flatlining and hospitalizations beginning to dip in Bexar County, the trend has reversed this month. As of Monday, the county's test positivity rate had rebounded to 6.9%, and the number of new daily cases has been on the rise.
"Despite the strict safety measures the city and Conservation Society adopted to ensure a healthy event, the continued presence of COVID-19 in our community makes cancelling this evening the right call," Nirenberg is quoted as saying in a press release.
The cancellation was announced jointly with Conservation Society leaders.
Those who bought tickets to the festival can either receive a full $125 refund; convert the ticket into a $125 donation that is tax-deductible; or "apply the funds to a future Society event."
As of Monday evening, 64,767 Bexar County residents have been infected with the coronavirus, and 1,247 have died from virus-related complications.