The Three Rivers Water Festival is taking the year off for the first time in its 64-year history.
Festival committee members made the decision Friday, according to Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Christy Trammell. She said the ever-changing situation regarding Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her executive orders related to COVID-19 made it impossible to plan and follow through with staging the event this year.
She said the risk of bringing together up to 12,000 people over the course of the three-day Water Festival simply wasn’t worth it. Originally slated for June 18-20, the Water Festival last month was postponed by the chamber board to July 23-25.
As it stands now, at least, the chamber still plans to offer the annual Treasures of St. Joseph County in September – already rescheduled from August – and Fall Color Tour in October.