The 2020 National Peanut Festival has been canceled, according to officials.

“After much consideration, the Board of the National Peanut Festival, the City of Dothan, Houston County and Reithoffer Shows have jointly made the decision to postpone the 2020 National Peanut Festival and all events associated with the Festival until further notice,” NPF posted on its Facebook page. “This difficult decision was driven by the impact of COVID-19 and the desire of all three entities to do what was best for the staff, volunteers, fairgoers and all parties involved with the Festival.

“The National Peanut Festival has a long-standing commitment to safety and excellence. Discussions surrounding this year’s event have been ongoing for several weeks and in fairness to all involved, the decision needed to be made now. The Festival, City and County considered all aspects of holding the Festival including CDC recommendations, guidance from the State Health Department and potential impact on the community and feel this decision is in the best interest of the community.”

The decision comes after the NPF board members and officials held an emergency meeting Thursday night.

Around the same time, Reithoffer Shows posted this on its Facebook page: “Sorry cat..its 2020 and fun has been canceled. But we know the comeback is always stronger than the setback… keep the faith! #nofun2020 #keepthefaith #fairstrong #reithofferrocks” accompanied with a meme of a cat captioned, “What do you mean we’re not going to the fair?”

Previously, an NPF official had said a decision about this year’s event would be announced on Sept. 1.

This story originally appeared in the Dothan Eagle.