The health and safety of our Methow community and all who come to visit is our most important priority. Given the developing Coronavirus news in the last 24 hours, Methow Valley Citizens Council and Methow Arts believe it is no longer appropriate to hold a large public Earth Day celebration in mid-April. Hosting an event that aims to draw hundreds together in close proximity is contrary to the global priority to contain and avoid further spread of the Coronavirus.

On March 11^th, the World Health Organization officially announced that Coronavirus is a global pandemic. With Washington State at the epicenter of the national outbreak, Governor Jay Inslee also announced that he is prohibiting gatherings of over 250 people in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Lastly, Okanogan County is encouraging people to follow the state’s recommendations and voluntarily avoid large gatherings. With the prospect of transmissions growing, and the serious health implications, it is has become clear that if we held the event, we could exacerbate the problem.

With that in mind, we have decided that the responsible decision is to postpone the two-day 50^th Anniversary Earth Day celebration to a later date (stay tuned). All planned events on both Friday and Saturday events, including performances by Xiuhtezcatl Martinez and Son Luna y Jóvenes Zapateadores will be postponed.

We wanted to communicate this decision as soon as we made it, even while we are still working through the logistical implications. We will update you with further details as they develop. We are hoping that some of the scheduled programming will still be able to occur during the week of Earth Day – in another format, perhaps as a livestream conference.  Please stay tuned on Methow Arts’ Earth Day calendar page to stay up to date on the rescheduled events and activities for Earth Day: http://www.methowarts.org/earth-day2020/.

In the meantime, please accept our sincere apology. We are truly inspired by the spirit and resilience of this community – and the way we can come together for a good cause. We look forward to celebrating our valley – and our Earth – with you when the time is right!

Many thanks,
Jasmine Minbashian, Amanda Jackson Mott
Methow Valley Citizens Council Methow Arts Alliance