Minocqua has canceled its popular Beef-A-Rama festival this fall.
It’s the latest popular local event to be called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every year, Beef-A-Rama draws tens of thousands of people to Minocqua to eat beef sandwiches, listen to music, and gather with friends.
But in a video on Facebook, Krystal Westfahl, the director of the Let’s Minocqua Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce, announced the cancelation.
“After much deliberation and a lot of information-gathering, we have, as a committee and a community, decided this year, we’re going to be putting the cows out to pasture,” Westfahl said. “Unfortunately, Beef-A-Rama will not be taking place in 2020. But we’re working really hard for a 2021 that will be out of this world.”
Westfahl’s organization had been soliciting public input on this year’s event through a survey.
The festival requires more than 300 volunteers most years, and many of those were not able to help during the pandemic.
“All of this combined, the experience isn’t what we could have given you in years past. We certainly don’t want to give you an opportunity to come to our town and not have the Beef-A-Rama experience,” Westfahl said.
Beef-A-Rama is one of the biggest Northwoods events forced to cancel by COVID-19.
