One of Carthage’s two big annual events and one of the largest religious pilgrimages in North America has been canceled for 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Father John Paul Tai Tran, Provincial Minister at the Congregation of the Mother of the Redeemer in Carthage, confirmed on Wednesday that Marian Days 2020, slated for Aug. 6-9, has been canceled, and will return the first weekend in August 2021.
“We’re a gathering of 60,000 to 70,000 and we have no way to accommodate that many people if something were to happen,” Tran said. “Even if things were to settle down by June or July, we don’t know if there will be another wave of this pandemic. We can’t risk the health of the people and the health of the community and of our congregation. Just one case of the virus could spread and ruin the reputation that we and the city of Carthage have worked to build over the years.”
Tran and Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan said they had met a couple of weeks ago and discussed the pandemic and its potential to disrupt Marian Days.
They had agreed to meet again and make a final decision on May 8.
But Father Tran said they’ve been following the national and international news and could see that the rates of illness were not going down fast enough.
They also knew they didn’t have the room to accommodate normal Marian Days crowds and still maintain social distancing of at least six feet between families and individuals.
This year would have been the 43rd year of the event that started as a small festival hosted by the Congregation the year after they escaped from Vietnam and were resettled in the former Ozark Wesleyan College on Grand Avenue in Carthage.
The event typically brings thousands of mostly Vietnamese Catholics to Carthage to create a tent city in about a square mile of the campus and surrounding neighborhoods.
It features masses with thousands of people standing or sitting shoulder in the Congregation’s front yard, and a processional on Saturday that sees thousands walk about a mile on Grand, Centennial, Main and Fairview streets.
The event fills hotels in Carthage, Joplin, even sees people staying in lodging in Springfield, Tulsa, Okla., and other surrounding communities.
Tran said the fathers felt they needed to announce their decision now to give people time to change their plans accordingly.
“Now we can take the time to plan for the time after the pandemic,” Tran said. “Hopefully by August 2021 they’ve developed a vaccine and we can come back stronger than ever.”
