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By Shannon Watkins

The Farmville Herald

The 2021 Heart of Virginia Festival, originally moved from its usual May date to Saturday, Sept. 18, has been canceled due to concerns around COVID, according to Susan Sullivan, who is on the festival committee and works as the director of the University Center and Student Activities at Longwood.

“We just don’t feel that it’s a good idea to bring 15,000 people to Farmville when the pandemic is still upon us,” she said, also citing the low vaccination rate in the area. “It just wouldn’t really be prudent of us to do that. I mean, it was a tough decision, but we feel as a board it was the right decision to make.”

She said that the board made the decision in a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 24, and further said that while the Saturday portion, including the 5K and 10K races, was canceled, the status of the Friday night Live at Riverside and Duck Derby event was still undecided but would be settled by the weekend.

Thomas Jordan Miles III of Piedmont Senior Resources, the organizer of The Great Farmville Duck Derby, confirmed Wednesday, Aug. 25, the event was still on as scheduled.

“We have not decided on a date for a future festival,” Sullivan said. “We don’t want to say May. We don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”