John Scarffe, Nederland. The Nederland Board of Trustees approved Resolution 2020-10 cancelling the 2020 Frozen Dead Guy Days festival during an emergency meeting on March 11, 2020, at the Nederland Community Center, following Boulder County Public Health’s recommendations to cancel all large event activities due to the Corona Virus. “Town staff and elected officials have been tracking and monitoring the COVID-19 situation and notifying the community through the website and social media,” according to the agenda information memorandum.
Based on this information, the Board of Trustees scheduled an emergency meeting on March 10, 2020, to discuss the implications with the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, planned for March 13 to 15. The Board considered the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spread and implications for the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival, according to the memo.
After a presentation by Boulder County Public Health Communicable Disease Program Manager Carol Helwig recommending that the festival continue, the Board discussed the situation. Trustees agreed that they needed more information, including feedback from Town businesses and more public comment.
The Board scheduled a follow up meeting for Wednesday, March 11, at 5:30 p.m. to continue the discussion and potentially take action. Staff said that the spread of COVID-19 could negatively impact the Town’s economy.
Canceling the festival could result in lower sales tax revenue, which could negatively impact the Town’s budget, according to the memo. “Canceling the festival could result in higher Town Staff costs to manage the traffic and people who will likely come into Town.”
Although Boulder County Public Health had previously recommended continuing with the festival, on March 11, 2020, the Town received a letter from Boulder County Public Health Executive Director Jeff Zayach in which he stated new recommendations for hosting large events in the context of the treat of COVID-19.
“At the time of our previous memo there were four identified cases of illness and the epidemiologic investigations at that time did not have identified transmission risks to the broader public,” Zayach wrote. “At this time, there are 33 presumptive positive cases in Colorado and limited community transmission has been identified.
“Limited community spread (or transmission) means there are cases and outbreaks in certain communities where people became infected, and public health is unable to identify the source,” Zayach wrote. “Since it has been determined that there is community transmission of COVID-19 that is not linked to known cases or to travel, Public Health recommends cancelling large event activities.”
For additional information, contact BCPH Communicable Disease Control Program Coordinator Carol Helwig at chelwig@bouldercounty.org or 303-591-7931.
The Board received lots of email messages and public comment and agreed that their heart goes out to those who have been affected and hope the Town doesn’t experience a lot of illness. Trustee Jonathan Baumhover said the Board asked for community input and would like to thank the community for that response.
Public Health says to cancel, but folks are in town for this event and more will be coming. “I’m in favoring of canceling but we need to have discussion about how were going to cancel,” Baumhover said.
Mayor Kristopher Larsen said he has had conversations with people at the state and local level about how they can support FDGD and local businesses, and they will be exploring that.
He asked the Board to adopt Resolution, 2020-10 and read the resolution for recommending canceling of FDGD.
The Board unanimously approved and discussed plans for dealing with crowds and traffic in town and continuing to discuss ways to keep the virus from spreading in town.
