This year's East Brady Area Riverfest has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Fireworks will still be held on July 18. Planners hope to hold the festival next year.

After years of expanding attractions, entertainment and drinks, the East Brady Area Riverfest is cancelling its 35th year over coronavirus concerns.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, with fireworks still planned to go off in the July event.

“Our ultimate goal was to bring a carnival in town. That's what we did last year, and we wanted to do it again this year,” said Luanne McAnallen, treasurer of the borough's Riverfest committee comprised of local business owners and community members. “We had new ideas and a lot of fundraising. This year was going to be bigger.”

The event, a summertime fixture in the small community along the Allegheny River for decades, attracts thousands of visitors annually.

Organizers were planning the festival for July 15 to 18 when the coronavirus pandemic impacted festivals across America. The fireworks show will be July 18.

With the carnival and bands already booked, McAnallen said, the committee decided to cancel the event over the economic hit local businesses are taking over COVID-19 precautions.

Typically the committee raises money through these businesses and does the majority of the festival planning. But orders to physically distance and shut down nonessential businesses have limited the committee's ability to make all the necessary arrangements.

“We couldn't meet except through the internet,” McAnallen said. “There was so much work to do beforehand, so we decided to stop right here. We just didn't know what to do. We had a lot of ideas, but there was no way to develop them.”

This isn't the festival's first challenge.

In 2015, organizers worried that the event was in jeopardy due to a lack of volunteers needed to help plan the event and raise money — both yearlong processes — and to work during the festival.

But since then, McAnallen said, interest in the organization has rebounded and a lack of volunteers isn't an issue anymore.

McAnallen said the committee — which once had only six members — now has 15 to 20.

The festival was always free, and the majority of the money made by the committee was through fundraisers. So far this year, McAnallen said they've canceled two fundraisers and rescheduled a third.

“We have a great community, and they always sponsor us,” McAnallen said. “But right now, you can't do anything.”

She hoped that next year they will be able to continue the momentum.

“We just hope to keep getting bigger and bigger,” McAnallen said.