GRAND ISLAND - After COVID-19 spread rapidly through central Nebraska, the future of summer's big events in Grand Island were uncertain. On Wednesday, Husker Harvest Days organizers announced they plan to move forward with their 2020 event. They say having it come back will be bring some normalcy to what's been a very strange year so far.

 

"Regardless of how you look at it, psychologically it's going to good to have something a little normal like Husker Harvest Days happen," National Event Director with Farm Progress, Matt Jungmann, said.

The annual farm show typically attracts thousands of farmers to Grand Island each year for different events and exhibits. While it may look a little different this year, those opportunities are still available.

"In these tough ag economic times, it's good to go and learn a new technique or something that's going to help a farmer stay profitable or become profitable during these very tough times," Jungmann said.

Jungmann says they want to make sure farmers stay safe while learning that new technique and they do plan to put safety precautions into place for all three days of the event.

"It's an evolving document, it's about 11 pages right now and kind of continues to grow between the things we're going to change, the things we're going to ask of the exhibitors and the thing we're going to ask of the visitors," he said. "A lot of the places where people interact closely, we're going to install sneeze guards and put those folks in masks."

Husker Harvest Days is the first of the big events in Grand Island to confirm they will still happen this year. The local tourism industry hopes to hear more positive announcements soon.

"The big events that happen here in Hall County are really important in a normal year to our community," Brad Mellema, Executive Director of Grand Island Tourism, said. "We realize that attendance might be different, or things will be different at the shows we have late summer early fall like that but nonetheless we are excited that the planning is moving forward."

The next event many are waiting to hear from is the Nebraska State Fair. The Fair Board said the earliest they would release their decision would be early July.