Festival goers purchase fresh apples and cider form the Mars Kiwanis Club during the annual Mars Applefest on Saturday, October 3, 2015.

Mars Applefest has been canceled.

The event, organized by the satellite club of the Rich-Mar Rotary, was planned for Oct. 3.

Through an email sent Monday morning, festival organizer Brian Fleeson cited social distancing guidelines and the difficulty of getting all organizers and vendors to sign waivers to release the event from legal responsibility if someone was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the event as the reasons for the cancellation.

“This decision was not an easy one,” Fleeson said in the email. “I realize that we are still a couple months away from the event and anything could change at any moment, but there is not much hope that it will change for the better soon enough.”

This is a breaking news report — subscribe online or in print to read the full article in Tuesday’s Butler Eagle.