I would dearly love to see hamfests open up again. But I don't think it will happen until next spring at the earliest.
Around here (in Northern Ohio), hamfest season usually winds up with the Cleveland Hamfest, the last weekend of September. That's been cancelled for this year, because the fair board wouldn't commit to honoring their contract. Hamfest season usually starts up around Valentine's Day with the Mansfield Mid-Winter Hamfest, which out of necessity is an indoor event. The folks down in Mansfield usually put on a fine hamfest, and their chili dogs have always been legendary. It will be interesting to see what happens with that one. I think if they hold a Mansfield event in February, I'm going to attend, unless its some kind of frikkin' blizzard or something. (In the last 30 years, that has happened exactly one time!)
But what I'm REALLY looking forward to is Hamvention 2021. If that is held, I'm definitely going, unless some bureaucrat decides to try and shut down the world again, which would totally suck.
Some people claim that the virus will magically disappear after election day. Well, maybe, but I don't think so.
Some people think we'll have an effective vaccine by October or November. Well, maybe, but I don't think so. Heck, we can't even make a flu vaccine that's better than 40% effective in any given year, and they do THAT every year. Then there's the red tape that the drug makers have to go through to even release a new medication. I just don't see all those pieces falling into place this calendar year. But, I could be wrong on that, so we'll see what really happens. I'm not holding my breath for it though.
In the meantime, the hamfest fund continues to grow, waiting for the day when hamfests really do return. I think they will eventually, and I really I hope they do. But I wouldn't bet a nickel trying to predict exactly when that happens.
73 de N8AUC
Eric