The third time is not the charm for Mayfair with the announcement that concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have forced cancellation of the 2020 arts festival.

Mayfair Festival of the Arts was to return May 22-24 for the third year on the Cedar Crest College campus in Allentown.

The three-day festival, as with Memorial Day, May 24, is regarded as the unofficial start of summer in the Lehigh Valley. The first day of summer is June 20.

On its website, Cedar Crest College announced cancellation of Mayfair Festival of the Arts because of “ongoing efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The coronavirus pandemic has raged through the region’s arts and entertainment scene like the Grim Reaper’s scythe making a swath through a field of golden wheat.

Even with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s April 22 announcement of a three-phase reopening of certain activities and businesses, starting May 8 in the commonwealth, the cancellation of Mayfair is the latest among major Lehigh Valley arts and entertainment events to fall in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Golf courses, with no access to clubhouses, and camping facilities were allowed to reopen May 1 when construction projects were also allowed to resume. State Store curbside pickup, with online advance orders limited to six bottles per customer, was expanded April 27.

Wolf’s March 16 order for nonessential businesses to cease was preceded by his March 13 order that closed public and charter schools, and was followed by his March 25 stay-at-home order for Lehigh and Northampton counties.

The State Theatre Center for the Arts, Easton, which is closed until further notice, announced April 23 that the 18th annual Freddy Awards won’t be presented in 2020. Instead, “Freddy Awards: A Television Special Celebrating the High School Musical Class of 2020” will be telecast 6:30 p.m. May 21, 69-WFMZ, a partner with the State Theatre in presenting the awards show.

Cancellations include concerts through June at Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown, also closed until further notice; concerts through May at Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem, also closed until further notice; Northampton Community College Summer Theatre, June 3 - Aug. 2, Bethlehem, and postponement of the 17th annual SouthSide Film Festival, June 16-20, Bethlehem.

Other venues canceling or postponing concerts include ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks; Penn’s Peak, Jim Thorpe; Sherman Theater, East Stroudsburg, Sellersville Theatre, and PPL Center, Allentown.

Closed until further notice include: Allentown Art Museum, Baum School of Art, Allentown; Banana Factory, Bethlehem; Civic Theatre of Allentown; Community Music School, Allentown; Wind Creek Bethlehem and Wind Creek Event Center, and movie theaters.

In addition, The Pennsylvania Playhouse, Bethlehem, has postponed “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” May 29-June 14, until Aug, 14-30. Ticket-holders are to go to www.paplayhouse.org or call 610-865-6665.

Also, Pennsylvania Playhouse has canceled “Annie,” July 24-Aug. 9. “It’s Impossible to cast and rehearse due to the ever-changing phases of reopening Pennsylvania,” Rody Gilkeson, Pennsylvania Playhouse Theater Administrator, stated in an email.

The coronavirus pandemic forced cancellation of the 113th Bach Festival, May 8, 9 and May 15, 16, Bethlehem; 40th Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, June 11- July 26, Allentown, and the 29th Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, May 29-Aug. 2, DeSales University, Center Valley.

In Allentown, still to be impacted could be the annual Baum School of Art auction, May 16, and annual City Arts Camp.

The arts camp, a collaboration of Allentown Art Museum, Baum School of Art, Civic Theatre of Allentown, Community Music School, Miller Symphony Hall, and Repertory Dance Theatre, was held June 24-28, 2019.

The impact through the summer of social-distancing guidelines and limits of gatherings to 10 or fewer on the arts scene remains to be seen.

Still to be heard from in the trifecta of tourism in the Lehigh Valley that kicks off the first weekend in August are Musikfest, July 31- Aug. 9, and Das Awkscht Fescht, July 31-Aug. 2.

The entire season of the Drum Corp International, starting June 18 and including the DCI Eastern Classic, July 31 and Aug. 1, J. Birney Crum Stadium, Allentown and the third of the Lehigh Valley tourism trifecta, has been canceled.

Even the Allentown Fair, Sept. 1-6, may not be immune from the coronavirus.

It’s also unknown whether the 149th Kutztown Fair, Aug. 10-15, will be affected.

The big question regarding the Allentown Fair, as well as Musikfest, has to do with Fairgrounds Grandstand and Wind Creek Main Stage concert headliners, respectively, which could be impacted by tour cancellations.

Mayfair, during Memorial Day weekend, and the Allentown Fair, spanning the Labor Day weekend, bookend the Lehigh Valley region unofficial summer entertainment season.

And now one of those bookends is gone for 2020.

In an April 27 statement on the Cedar Crest College website, Audra Kahr, chair of the Mayfair committee and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Cedar Crest College, said:

“As excited and hopeful as we were to welcome the community to our campus for another great celebration of art, performance and food, the safety and well-being of our campus community, volunteers, vendors, performers and guests remains of utmost importance.

“We will turn our focus to planning for the 2021 festival, while also doing what we can to keep the spirit of Mayfair alive in the meantime,” Kahr said.

According to the Cedar Crest website, “In the absence of a physical festival, Mayfair will use its social media channels on Facebook and Instagram @cccmayfair to support and promote the artists, performers and vendors that were slated to participate in this year’s festival, as well as share highlights from the past two festivals that were held on campus.”

The Cedar Crest website states that it brought the more than 30-year Mayfair tradition back to Allentown and the Lehigh Valley in 2018, after the festival had been canceled by former organizers in 2017.

“The college returned the festival to the roots that had made it a beloved kickoff to summer in the region, drawing more than 20,000 attendees with free admission and family activities, and showcasing area artists, performers and vendors,” states the Cedar Crest website.

The 2019 Mayfair featured “twice as many artists and food vendors, expanded hours and some new faces,” according to an article in the May 23, 2019, Focus section of Lehigh Valley Press.

Mayfair 2019 had multiple stages with popular local and regional bands performing, an artists’ market, children’s activities, food stands and beer and wine. Admission is free. Free parking is available on the college campus.

For 2019, there were more than 50 artists in “The Artists Market” outside on the 84-acre tree-lined campus and inside Lees Hall.

Artists’ displays and demonstrations included pottery, sculpture, painting and photography.

The Baum School of Art had a children’s art tent offering free art projects.

Tours were given of the college’s William F. Curtis Arboretum, which has more than 150 species of trees.

There were more than 30 performances at the 2019 festival on two stages, a main stage off College Drive and a bandstand stage at the Blaney Hall circle, where performers included Lucky 7, The Large Flowerheads, BC Combo, Philadelphia Funk Authority, James Supra and Sarah Ayers and Rubix Cube.

More than 20 food vendors were at Mayfair 2019.

Cedar Crest College, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2017, came to Mayfair’s rescue in 2018 when the annual Allentown music and arts festival was canceled in 2017 after nearly three decades.

Mayfair was founded 33 years ago as a free arts and music festival in Cedar Beach Park and Union Terrace, a successor to center city Allentown’s Celebration festival and Super Sunday.

Although initially attracting thousands of people, Mayfair was plagued by bad weather and struggled financially.

In 2005, the festival put up gates and started charging admission, but still faced the uncertainty of the weather.

In 2013, Mayfair moved to the Agri-Plex at the Allentown Fairgrounds, where it had indoor and outdoor venues. Admission continued to be charged.

Mayfair Information: https://www.cedarcrest.edu/news/42720_mayfair.shtm

Paul Willistein is editor of the Focus features section in the eight Lehigh Valley Press newspapers and on the eight Press websites. Email Paul Willistein: pwillistein@tnonline.com; friend Paul Willistein on facebook and follow Paul Willistein on Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram.