Valley event cancellations, postponements mount for 2021 due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

Amid the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases in Arizona, many events in the Valley have been either postponed or cancelled completely.

Renaissance Festival

On Dec. 9, organizers of the Renaissance Festival in Arizona say the annual event is cancelled for 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, officials say they have made a decision to cancel the event, despite preparing for the event recently with a COVID-19 safe event plan and capacity limitations that are recently approved by officials in Pinal County.

"With negative COVID-19 conditions dramatically increasing, the worst since the beginnings of the pandemic, and with cases projected to increase over the next weeks, the festival now has a concern that even with its plan in place, audience support to open can become limited in comparison to the attendance necessary to be successful," read a portion of the statement.

The festival began in 1989, and organizers say they will return in February 2022.

“We will be back. The Festival village gates will open again. Our patrons and participants are counting on it,” read a portion of the statement.

According to data released by the Arizona Department of Health Services on Dec. 9, 4,444 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported.

Other events also impacted

Besides the Renaissance Festival, other events in 2021 are being impacted by COVID-19 as well, as organizers of the annual Rock 'N Roll Marathon, which was slated to take place in January, cancelled the 2020 event.

Meanwhile, organizers of the Barret Jackson car auction have announced their decision to postpone the annual event from January to March 2021.

"The difficult decision to postpone the auction was made out of an abundance of caution to safeguard auction customers, sponsors guests and employees from the current spike of coronavirus cases," organizers wrote, in a statement.

Tune in to FOX 10 Phoenix for the latest news

Get the latest coronavirus news by downloading the FOX 10 News App. Our promise is that our alerts are there to inform you - not scare you.

Sign up for FOX 10 email alerts, newsletters

COVID-19 symptoms

Symptoms for coronavirus COVID-19 include fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. These, of course, are similar to the common cold and flu. 

Expect a common cold to start out with a sore or scratchy throat, cough, runny and/or stuffy nose. Flu symptoms are more intense and usually come on suddenly, and can include a high fever. 

Symptoms of COVID-19 may appear more slowly. They usually include fever, a dry cough and noticeable shortness of breath, according to the World Health Organization. A minority of cases develop pneumonia, and the disease is especially worrisome for the elderly and those with other medical problems such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes or heart conditions.

RELATED: Is it the flu, a cold or COVID-19? Different viruses present similar symptoms

COVID-19 resources

CDC Website for COVID-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus

https://espanol.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html (In Spanish/En Español)

AZDHS Website for COVID-19

https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/index.php#novel-coronavirus-home

https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/es/covid-19/index.php#novel-coronavirus-home (In Spanish/En Español)