Coronavirus concerns have sunk plans for the 40th annual Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny event in Port Hope, Ont.

The popular event on the Ganarasaka River features hundreds of people who build their own watercraft to float in the 10-kilometre race. The event commemorates the destructive flood that ravaged downtown Port Hope in 1980.

This year’s event was scheduled for April 11.

There has been one confirmed case of COVID-19 in Northumberland County, the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit said on Friday night.

“In keeping with the guidelines recommended by the federal and provincial governments to practise social distancing, and to do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19 regionally, the organizers have made the very difficult decision to cancel Float your Fanny Down the Ganny for 2020,” stated co-chairs Barry Adamson and Barrileigh Price.

“Nobody is as disappointed about this decision as our organizing committee that puts in so much to make it an event that the town and its residents are so proud of. However, we all need to do our part to keep our town, its residents and visitors safe and healthy over the coming months.”

The organizers will be issuing refunds to all participants, sponsors and vendors who have registered online.

“To our knowledge the race has never cancelled, yes postponed, but not cancelled,” the co-chairs stated.

“So, we will have to make the 40th event in 2021, a bigger celebration and we promise the water will still be cold.”

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