We’ve been planning this since late January, and at that point who would have thought the world would literally stop in a matter of eight weeks.”

Steve Kajala

COOK- Following suit with a growing number of popular summer festivals and community events, organizers have canceled the June 12-14 Cook Timber Days due to health and safety concerns caused by the new coronavirus.
“It’s very unfortunate that we had to, but it’s prudent to do for safety purposes,” organizing committee chairman Steve Kajala said. “It’s certainly a big hit for everybody. It’s kind of the kickoff to summer. We’re the first festival around.”
Planning had been coming along well since the committee started its work in January, and Kajala said they hoped to introduced a few new wrinkles to provide even more entertainment for participants.
But as the state’s response to the coronavirus moved from social distancing recommendations to school and business closures and stay-at-home orders, it became clear Timber Days was in jeopardy. Reluctant to give up on an event that provides a boost for businesses and fundraising opportunities for charities, Kajala said the committee decided during a recent teleconference meeting to give it two more weeks before making a decision about canceling. It took less than one.
“In the next four days Grandma’s Marathon and Land of the Loon both canceled,” Kajala said.
Another factor was the toll COVID-19 precautions have taken on local businesses.
“Most of our donations come from small businesses in the area, and we have a few corporations,” Kajala said. “It would tough to ask all these people to donate when everybody’s business has been negatively impacted by this.”
The committee looked at the possibility of rescheduling Timber Days for later in the summer, but quickly decided the obstacles to doing so were too great.
“We have several dozen vendors that come here,” Kajala said. “They travel from festival to festival during the summer. All their business comes from attending these festivals. If we postponed, a number of our vendors wouldn’t be able to attend.”
Once the summer gets rolling, festivals and community events are happening every weekend throughout the region, and pushing Timber Days to the end of August or later creates conflicts with back-to-school activities, Kajala said, making it more difficult to put on Timber Days and get people to attend.
By biting the bullet and canceling now, the committee avoided having to lay out money for significant pre-event expenses such as fireworks, exhibits, and portable toilets, Kajala said.
He also praised prior Timber Days organizers for their financial stewardship, which enabled this year’s committee to make a “larger than normal contribution” to the Cook Food Shelf, despite not being able to do their usual fundraising.
“There are more people than ever relying on that,” Kajala said, noting that businesses suffering this year were the same ones whose generous donations last year made the food shelf donation possible.
While Kajala said he’s looking forward to re-booting Timber Days next year, it’s still hard to believe it won’t be happening this summer.
“We’ve been planning this since late January, and at that point who would have thought the world would literally stop in a matter of eight weeks,” he said.