The 2020 Shoe Fest scheduled on the campgrounds at Camp Shaw Wa Nas See in Manteno has been canceled for 2020.
“We do not feel we can offer a top-notch event while maintaining everyone’s health and safety during the Covid-19 crisis,” Event organizers said on Monday. “We will be canceling Shoe Fest on Labor Day Weekend of 2020.”
Shoe Fest was originally scheduled for September 4- 6th this year.
The annual festival offers a variety of musical acts and vendors each year. In 2020, Shoe Fest would have celebrated their 10th annual event. In recent years, the festival has seen crowds of over 1,700 in attendance.
Emergency personnel made regular appearances at the event in years past for calls ranging from drug overdoses to domestic disturbances. The event has seen a recorded death in its 10 year history. That was in 2015, a 51-year-old DeKalb man choked to death while eating a steak sandwich at the festival. The man was reportedly intoxicated at the time and pronounced dead on the scene.
