Comments from an earlier email string:

A lot of large events are pulling out of Tucson. Festival of Books for one. Primarily because authors do not want to fly here. The Town of Oro Valley P&R have not canceled any events however we have a briefing later this week with PD and executive team to discuss.

The Town of Marana has not cancelled any events yet either. Although we have a special event this weekend and registration is lower than expected. I’m wondering if it is because people are avoiding the larger group environments?

On Saturday Maricopa hosted our Salsa Festival.  We followed county guidelines and requirements as we normally would.  I’ll let you know how it went in a few weeks.  I’d say stay with it and take your lead from our county and state health departments.  

Many of us in the valley are in the midst of hosting some of our largest special events in the form of Spring Training and we have yet to cancel any games at any Cactus League Stadium.  In Mesa with two stadiums we have added additional hand sanitizer dispensers in restrooms at concession stands, etc. but with upwards of 15,000+ fans, plus hundreds of staff at Cubs games alone that is the largest change we have made.  We continue to follow the lead of the County Health Department and have posted additional signage in all facilities about hand washing and have increased cleaning of equipment and surfaces that are frequently touched. As such no programs or events have been cancelled and to date, only one group has cancelled with us and that was a competitive swim team from Canada who was directed by Swimming Canada (their governing board) to not travel out of the country.

The City of Apache Junction also has not cancelled any events as of now.  We are monitoring closely, and relying largely on the CDC website and Pinal County Health Department stats in the area for guidance.  The CDC website has great resources, and we have shared the link for large events with our community partners (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/large-events/index.html) . 

It was a non-issue a week ago for our large founders day Parade/Rodeo/Carnival Lost Dutchman Days… but that was before there were any known cases in the Pinal County area.

Updates received via email from area agencies:

Goodyear has cancelled all parks and recreation events and classes through end of April.  https://www.goodyearaz.gov/Home/Components/News/News/10475/1549?backlist=%2f

Gilbert Residents,

It is our responsibility to prioritize the health of Gilbert’s residents and employees. Today, Gilbert made the decision to postpone all town-run special events through April 10th in an attempt to flatten the curve to contain the spread of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.

For a full list of impacted events and rescheduled dates, visit Gilbert's special events update page.

Although Florence was not the organizer of the Arts and Culture Festival, scheduled for April 4^th and 5^th, we work closely with the local chamber of commerce to present the event.  The Town also was providing a substantial amount of money to the chamber to assist in its presentation.

We heard from the chamber director that his board of directors agreed with his recommendation to postpone the event to sometime in the fall.  Artists and vendors were beginning to cancel their earlier commitments to participate. 

Since this was going to be a first-time event, we agreed with the chamber that it was best to postpone the event instead of trying to present it with the potential of very few artists and vendors. 

“The City of Tempe will cancel public special events and project-specific public input meetings through the end of April in compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance about large gatherings and the benefits of social distancing in minimizing community spread of the coronavirus…”