Houston Founder’s Day cancelled due to COVID-19

WASILLA — Another major public event has been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic.

City of Houston officials recently announced their staple summer event, Houston Founder’s Day, is cancelled because the sheer number of attendees is simply too large and happening too soon to safely follow state mandates.

While businesses are slowly opening back up and more people find themselves returning to work, the demand for adequate social distancing measures to prevent further spread of COVID-19 is still very high.

“It was a tough decision. I mean, this is an event that’s been going on for 40 years. People, they plan for it a day after it’s over,” Thompson said. “I feel bad for the vendors. I feel bad for the people who like to participate.”

Aside from social distancing concerns, Thompson said they’re also hard pressed to make this large scale event happen since it runs solely off of community support.

“Founder’s Day is 100 percent by donation,” Thompson said. “That’s how we’re able to provide everything for free for people who want to attend.

Thompson said it didn’t feel right to ask their various partners for donations since they’re likely going through hard times as well.

“It’s hard to ask for something they might not have, and then putting them in a bad position by saying ‘no I can’t’ when I know they would want to,” Thompson said.

With big, annual public gatherings like the Alaska State Fair cancelling across the Valley, Thompson said there was concern that a surge of people would flock to Founder’s Day, expecting tripled rates of attendance.

“It’s just gonna be missed,” Thompson said.

Thompson has been a colorful staple of Founder’s Day for many years. She always dresses up as Waldo from the “Where’s Waldo?” book series and prompts attending children to find her to participate in the various activities.

“I just enjoy watching people have fun,” Thompson said.

Thompson said that Houston is working with the Mat0Su Borough and other cities to come up with ways to hold smaller scale events for the community over the summer, depending on what happens with the next phase of Gov. Dunleavy’s Alaska Economic Stabilization Plan.

Last year for the Fourth of July, kids had the chance to get sprayed down by Houston firefighters during a hot, 85 degree day. Thompson said that she hopes they can do something similar, but mainly just to do something for the community.

“It just depends. We’ll have to see what the weather’s doing and the rest of the situation around the state,” Thompson said. “We’ll all be excited to announce once we have a final decision.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com