BELPRE — The Belpre Homecoming Committee has canceled all festival activities and entertainment for 2020, Chairman Kelly Cox said.

“We had hoped that Ohio Gov. (Mike) DeWine would have had guidelines in place by July 1 to allow festivals to continue. Although county fairs are permitted, festivals are not allowed under those COVID-19 guidelines,” Cox said. “We then had to make the difficult decision to suspend all planning for our yearly event. We had plans in place to present a safe and family-friendly event, but current conditions just won’t allow us to continue.”

Cox said the Buddy Bass Tournament and Kids’ Fishing Derby hosted by Frontier Bassmasters set for Aug. 1 is not affected by the decision to cancel the festival.

This would have been the 88th Belpre Homecoming. The committee intends to shift all planning to the August 2021 event, Cox said.