BAND AID
Strong and healthy
Curbside for a Cause to help keep EDHS musicians on beat.
March of Dimes celebrates a Cameron Park family.
Inside, A6
News, Etc. B1 C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
wednesday, may 13, 2020
Volume 169 • Issue 56 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Fair postponed due to COVID-19 concerns Dylan Svoboda Staff writer The El Dorado County Fair has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fair organizers announced last week they will move this year’s event to July 9-12, pending barring complications, as the coronavirus outbreak shelves large gatherings across the world. “Fair staff has been working for months to prepare for (the) fair, the Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum entertainment has been Gates are locked at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds where numerous booked, judges hired and events have been canceled this spring and the county fair postponed vendors have signed up,” El Dorado County Fair and in an effort to quell the spread of the coronavirus.
Event Center CEO Jodi Gray wrote in an email Monday. Fortunately, she added, “Almost all of (the fair’s) entertainers and judges (were) able to switch the dates, as well as (the) carnival.” The event was originally planned for June 18-21. Fair officials said the annual swine show will still take place in June as scheduled. Mass gatherings, like county fairs, will be the last events approved by the state under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening plans. Currently, El Dorado County is moving through n
County gets go-ahead for Stage 2 Officials awaiting guidlines
Dylan Svoboda Staff writer The California Department of Public Health has listed El Dorado County as one of two counties able to reopen parts of its economy. El Dorado, along with Butte County, met the criteria for moving through Stage 2 of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening plan. Businesses such as dine-in
See EDC fair, page A6
Belting it out
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See Stage 2, page A6
Mountain Democrat launches business stimulus program Democrat staff The Mountain Democrat has announced a stimulus program to assist local businesses. The program offers every business in El Dorado County a free eighth-page display advertisement in either the Mountain Democrat, Village Life or Cameron Park Life publications. Advertisers can use the ad space for anything they want to relay to their customers. n
See Stimulus program, page A6
Two additional cases of COVID-19 found in the south county Dylan Svoboda Staff writer
Democrat photo by Kevin Christensen
Taekewondo student Kasha Salamina, left, celebrates receiving his green belt Saturday as instructors with Cameron Park/Foothill Taekwondo marked individual achievements outside the Placerville dojang. Also riding in the back of the pickup are Cherilyn Lussier, right, who got her black belt and Cherilyn’s son Braydon who was there to show his support. Adhereing to COVID-19 social-distancing guidelines, students who received promotions completed their testing and demonstrations virtually to move up in rank.
El Dorado County public health officials confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 in the south county area over the weekend. That moves the countywide, confirmed coronavirus case count to 56. With three new recoveries, the number of known active cases sits at eight.
See more photos on A7
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See Covid cases, page A7
Wagons, ho? No … Wagon Train hold up Pat Lakey Staff writer
The Wagon Train of 2020 that was set to make its run from Round Hill, Nev., to Placerville come June was felled by the he Highway 50 Wagon Train tiniest of wild critters — a little “grizzly” that has traveled from Nevada to of microscopic proportions, a coronavirus Placerville, called COVID-19. Calif., since 1949, A statement on “We’ve had heat, snow, cold, thrilling participants the Facebook page and history-loving politics — but this is the first of the Highway crowds on its way, 50 Association thing that stopped us.” won’t run this year — that sponsors the — Steve Downer, only the second time always eagerly in its colorful history president of the Highway 50 Association anticipated Wagon that the states’ only Train states, moving historical “Unfortunately event has been canceled. due to the COVID-19 virus, the Board Unlike the pioneers who in the 1800s of Directors has made the hard decision came over the treacherous Rockies that to cancel the 2020 Highway 50 Wagon took their toll in lost lives, only to be faced Train. This was not an easy decision by with the daunting Sierra Nevada range that any means; we will keep you updated on would exact its own cost (most famously upcoming events this year as much as possible. Democrat file photo the Donner Party), it wasn’t avalanche The Highway 50 Association Wagon Train, which usually runs in early June, has or grizzlies that stopped the modern-day n See Wagon Train, page A7 pioneers. been canceled this year due to COVID-19 social-distancing concerns.
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