Zelienople Borough Council voted “neigh” Monday on holding the annual Horse Trading Days and two other upcoming events due to the coronavirus.

“These types of decisions we're making right now are among the toughest we've ever faced,” Councilman Gregg Semel said.

Zelienople's Memorial Day commemoration and July Fourth festivities were also canceled by council in its virtual meeting Monday evening.

Borough manager Don Pepe said the decision by council was difficult, but appropriate, to protect public health.

“To cancel things that have been going on for decades is not easy, and they're going to take some heat for that, ... but I think it was the most responsible thing to do,” he said. “I feel bad for the community because those events won't happen this year. I wish it didn't have to happen.”

Jack Cohen, Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau president, said the impact to businesses of canceling the events is staggering.

“The economic impact of (Horse Trading Days alone) is probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's my guess,” he said. “Every business would be busier, and all the vendors that would be there would be busy, too.”

Despite the probable dip in revenue to local businesses, Cohen said he thinks the move was the right one.

“It's very, very much a shame that we can't do these things now and, until we find an answer to this problem, that's the norm,” he said.

Pepe said while the borough's official Memorial Day events are canceled, a small, private ceremony in the cemetery would be permissible. However, he said the borough “can't sanction that.”

Council debated different options on how to hold the events while following social distancing guidelines. Councilwoman Mary Hess suggested the borough hold fireworks on July 4 but not have an area where people can congregate.

“I believe strongly that we should have fireworks,” she said. “I think it will be uplifting and show hope.”

But Semel disagreed, saying even without an official gathering area people would get together in larger numbers than would be permitted if the county were still in Gov. Tom Wolf's yellow phase of reopening the state.

“There is no way to stop the general public from coming out and observing,” Semel said. “Many communities are not having these types of events until we get out of this pandemic.”

Cohen said Tuesday the cost of planning these types of events — from fireworks to potentially hiring off-duty police — makes it prohibitive to plan on holding a festivity only to cancel it.