When the coronavirus pandemic first exploded earlier this year, some hoped that it would end within weeks or months, with enough hand washing and other measures, perhaps with the sunlight of spring and summer.
Still, it is summer, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, and that means a season of fairs and festivals, and other traditional celebrations. Organizers around the world found sometimes ingenious ways to make sure the celebrations could go on, safely.
Sometimes the answer was to shift to livestreaming an event, as people worked to recreate the magic in their living rooms. That was the solution for the annual carving of the dairy princess in butter at the Minnesota State Fair. An eight-week festival in England featured purpose-built pods with table service so that families could attend performances with their pod. There were drive-throughs selling American fair staples like corndogs and funnel cakes, and pop-up events to keep crowds small, like the surprise fireworks displays staged by Macy’s in New York neighborhoods.
Here’s a visual tour of celebrations around the world, with stops in Germany, Britain, Wisconsin, California, Brazil, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan and Mongolia.
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People in vehicles waited on July 30 on the racetrack of the Wisconsin State Fair Park for the daily opening of the Fair Food Drive-Thru. The event in West Allis, Wis., provided an alternative with the Wisconsin State Fair and most other county fairs around the state canceled.Credit…John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal, via Associated Press
Under the motto “Summer in the City,” rides and cultural offerings for residents and visitors were set up at numerous locations around Munich.Credit…Lukas Barth-Tuttas/EPA, via ShutterstockA drive-through food fair in July in the parking lot at the Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael, Calif., offered county fair favorites like corndogs, cotton candy and funnel cakes.Credit…Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Visitors enjoyed a lantern display in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the day after the June 5 Poson Poya festival that celebrates the historical arrival of Buddhism on the island nation.Credit…Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An archery competition continued as planned with masks at the annual Naadam sports festival near Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia. The festival had no live audience for the first time in its history.Credit…Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Dancers performed during a livestream replacing the traditional Boi-Bumba folklore festival in Parintins, Brazil, in June. The celebration of indigenous cultures of the Amazon rainforest normally lasts three days.Credit…Michael Dantas/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA maiko, or apprentice geisha, stopped for a temperature check as she arrived for a traditional Japanese theatrical festival in Kyoto. Performers of theater arts like Noh and Kyogen, which date back to the 14th century, gathered for the one-day event in late June.Credit…Dai Kurokawa/EPA, via Shutterstock
Children played in a mud pool inflated at their home during the online Boryeong Mud Festival in July, in Gwangju in South Korea’s Gyeonggi-do Province.Credit…Heo Ran/Reuters
The Gisburne Park Pop Up, a purpose-built, socially distanced outdoor festival in Britain, allows guests to book an individual hexagonal pitch, separated by 2.6 meters with enough space for a social bubble of six people. The eight-week festival, held on the Gisburne Park Estate in northern England, features films, opera, family sing-alongs and food and drink delivered to your pitch, and ends on Aug. 30.Credit…Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images