BROOKINGS – This year’s “Pickle Festival Aurora Gala Days 2020” is on track for this weekend. The annual community event will be held on Friday, July 31, and Saturday, Aug. 1.

With the coming of the coronavirus pandemic, many South Dakota small-town summer festivals – most of them longstanding traditions – have been canceled, modified or removed from municipal sponsorship or patronage. That was not the case in Aurora.

By a 4-0 vote at a special meeting on July 13, the Aurora City Council gave the go-ahead to “Pickle Festival Aurora Gala Days 2020.”

While the annual event bears the city’s name and some of the activities will occur on city property, the Aurora Events Committee, chaired by Pat Tingle, handles planning and execution of the scheduled events. Planning for this year’s event began soon after Gala Days 2019 ended. 

“We had a lot of the events that we were going to do already in place,” Tingle said.” There’s been a bit of a name change for this year’s event, with the premiere theme of the “Pickle Festival.”

He admitted that the coming of the coronavirus did make his committee “really take a step back and look at what can we do. … How long is this going to last? Do we keep moving forward?”

Tingle attended monthly meetings of the City Council to keep officials advised as to what the AEC was doing and to see if the council had any requests for the AEC.

June was crunch time: the AEC studied the CDC guidelines to determine what was needed to make the festival safe and followed them.

Then, Tingle said, “Basically, to quote our governor, ‘If you feel unsafe to come to the event, then don’t come to our event.’

“We would love to have you there, but we understand, too, that the safety of you is No. 1.”

Only two former participants opted out of the festival: a photographer who ran a photo booth and a “balloon man,” because of safety concerns for the one-on-one contact that would have been involved. However, both those participants are “all aboard to come back” to future post-pandemic festivals. 

Safety guidelines in place

The AEC’s Facebook page entry posted July 15 notes: “Safety is paramount for this event, so the AEC would like attendees to partner with us to limit COVID-19 exposure.”  

What follows is a detailed page-long list of recommended safety measures that include: 6-foot social distancing; face masks recommended; and staying home if exhibiting COVID-like symptoms, or exposure to anyone who tested positive to COVID-19 in the past two weeks.

Additional safety measures are being recommended for booth vendors, food venders and park activities. The AEC will ensure sanitizing measures throughout the day.

The street dance will also have safety measures in place that include: one entrance and one exit; firefighters and first responders handling tickets and money will be wearing gloves and masks; temperatures of those entering the dance area will be checked; and hand sanitizer will be available throughout the area.

The flyer touting the event carries a “COVID-19 Safety Warning: By attending or participating in this event, you agree that you are accepting responsibility for your own personal safety and the safety of others by following CDC guidelines, including social distancing, proper hygiene, and recommended use of face covering.”

Most events on Saturday

The first day of the two-day gala kicks off Friday with rummage sales throughout the day. There is the opportunity to end the day with some live music at Lemke’s Bar and Grill, from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Saturday events at various times and venues around town include: Bloodmobile, 8-11:30 a.m. by Little Hall; volleyball at 9 a.m.; craft and art vendors, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the park; kids’ bike parade at 10:30 a.m. and parade at 11 a.m.; car and motorcycle show and noon on Broadway Street; and a beanbag tournament at 1 p.m. north of Lemke’s.

A Gala Days first-time event is the Fried Pickle Competition between three local food vendors: Lemke’s Bar and Grill; Midwest Catering; and B&D Snack Shop. It’ll be held from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday.

For kids, a variety of entertainment will be on tap in the city park, starting at noon with Kids Karaoke. That’s followed throughout the afternoon by the fire department’s Fire House from noon-4 p.m., the Zoo Man at 1:30 p.m., Brookings County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit at 2:15 p.m., Kids Pedal Pull at 2 p.m., and the Zoo Man again at 3 p.m.

Baseball games will be held at Langland Field throughout the weekend.

And, per usual, the Saturday grand finale will be the street dance on Broadway, held from 7 p.m.-1 a.m.

A complete schedule of events and detailed safety information can be found on the Aurora Events Committee Facebook page. 

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.