Callaway County will have to wait to blow out its birthday candles.
"With the pandemic we had to reschedule the (Bicentennial Bash) in May," said Blaine McQuaid, member of the Callaway 200 committee.
The committee held a virtual meeting Thursday to regroup and re-evaluate plans. Originally planned for May 29-30, the weekend-long bicentennial party has been rescheduled for Aug. 29-30.
"That's the weekend before (Labor Day), which I feel works well," McQuaid said. "Shenandoah didn't have any other Saturdays available."
Though the headliner band has been secured, many other details of the celebration are now up in the air - a major setback for the committee, given how far planning for the May weekend had progressed.
"We were on our way to have everything that we were needing," McQuaid lamented.
Committee members said they had yet to contact all the churches planning their own celebrations for May 31.
"All we can do is hope the churches will understand and be willing to change the date," Callaway County Director of Tourism Renee Graham said.
They're also planning to approach the YMCA about changing the date of the Callaway 10K.
Graham spent part of the meeting taking a hard look at the event's budget. The Bicentennial Bash and other Callaway 200 events are partially funded by selling merchandise at other events - events which will likely also be canceled. She expects donations will also be down as Callaway County reels from COVID-19's effects.
"Obviously, there are some fixed costs, but we may have to look at ways to pare down expenditures for this event when we look at what our balance is," she said. "I'm worried about our businesses that were going to be are partners. It's scary what's happening to our businesses right now."
She suggested cutting back on planned advertising, canceling merchandise orders and borrowing equipment whenever possible.
"We may have to do some deep cuts, and I don't know how that will all pan out," Graham admitted.
Committee member Gracia Backer suggested asking for more donations to support the event.
"If we don't ask, we won't know," she said. "The worst people can say is 'no' - well, not only 'no' but 'hell no' - and that's OK."
There's one clear silver lining to the date change: It gives Callawegians a significant amount of additional time to work on wall hangings for the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society's contest. The entry deadline has been pushed back to Aug. 1, and entries will be accepted once the KCHS reopens.
For contest details and rules, see: bit.ly/2wIAdqz. For ongoing updates about Callaway 200 plans, bookmark callaway200.com and "like" the Facebook page.