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Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo canceled over concerns of Delta variant

Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo has canceled their event for August 1 over concerns of the rapidly spreading Delta variant.

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By
Maggie Brown
, WRAL multiplatform producer
RALEIGH, N.C. — Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo has canceled its event scheduled for Aug. 1 over concerns of the new rapidly spreading strain of coronavirus.

"Because of the rapid surge of the Delta variant, we will be looking to Sept. 26 event date as the first event," a Facebook post from Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo says. "This will ensure that we have time to take into account the new challenges."

The event plans for more than 40 food trucks from across the state to gather in downtown Raleigh. The rodeo will take up more than 10 city blocks, event organizers said.

Even though the event is outdoors, organizers were still concerned.

"It appears crazy contagious, even outdoors," organizers said.

The state has reported more than 5,400 new COVID-19 infections since Friday, and more than 2,000 cases alone on Saturday. That's the first time the state has had more than 2,000 new cases in one day since April 30.

Clayton Blackwelder, of Raleigh, was looking forward to enjoying the atmosphere.

"I like to go get drinks and normally Neomonde is out there, I love Neomonde, I love Mediterranean food," Blackwelder said.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are also ticking upward -- nearly 950 people are hospitalized, more than double the number from just two weeks ago.

Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo organizers said that "we have to assume there could be highly contagious individuals in the crowd with the new Delta variant."

Dr. Robin Peace with UNC Health Southeastern is relieved that the event was canceled.

"Anyone that is canceling a large gathering because of the concern of the Delta variant, I'm grateful for that," Peace said.

Peace said she understands people crave a sense of normalcy, but recommends avoiding large-scale events right now.

"I don't believe that there is a safe way to hold such an event," she said. "You can require masks, but just as sure as we are speaking, there are going to be people that aren't going to keep the mask on for an extended period of time."

Guests plan to pack Red Hat Amphitheatre to see violinist Lindsey Stirling on Thursday.
Kerry Painter, who manages the venues, told WRAL city leaders are keeping a close eye on COVID metrics.

"The fall is booked, we've heard no cancelations," Painter said. "We're hoping that the numbers stay low and people get their vaccine so we don't need them."

The Raleigh Convention Center is expected to host 25,000 people for GalaxyCon from Thursday to Sunday. Event organizers say they have put a number of safety measures in place.

"These include decisions we made early in our return to in person planning like decreasing our attendance by nearly one third, reducing our number of celebrity guests to focus on the most in demand stars, reducing our vendors but keeping our space the same to ensure greater social distancing, and the elimination of our popular tabletop gaming, video gaming and wrestling events," GalaxyCon president Mike Broder said.

In addition, Broder said daily cleaning will include overnight sanitation fogging, the cleaning of all high touch surfaces every hour on the hour and the encouragement of masking, hand-washing, vaccinations and social distancing.

"We believe these steps will help mitigate the risk to our attendees," Broder said.

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