20190929-bc-fair

Foothill High School FFA member Natalie Paredez sits with her cow, Anya, at the Kern County Fair in this 2019 photo.

 Alex Horvath / The Californian

Signs warning about the risks of COVID-19 will go up at all entrances of the upcoming Kern County Fair and there will be additional hand-washing and sanitization stations across the fairgrounds but no mask or vaccination mandate under a set of safety protocols approved unanimously Thursday by the event's governing board.

CEO Mike Olcott said the list of measures has been accepted by all government agencies the board interacts with, including the county and state public health departments. He emphasized the protocols being put in place could be revised at any time, but said at this point "we're not under a (mask) mandate unless it changes."