The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration board of directors continued to finalize plans for the upcoming 82nd Annual Celebration to be held August 26th – September 5th.  The board met July 6, 2020 and made some final decisions regarding the upcoming horse show in light of the COVID-19 recommendations from local, state and federal guidelines.

Box Seating
The Celebration will reconcile the sale of its box seats on July 15th to check available inventory.  If at that time box seat holders that would like to move their location to a less crowded area they can work with Celebration staff to do so.  The move will be a one-year temporary move and the customer will not lose the right to the original box they’ve previously had.  Also, if the customer moves to a different location they will be refunded the difference in price if the new box is less expensive and charged the difference if the new box is more expensive than their original box.

Blue Ribbon Circle Club
The Celebration will have the Blue Ribbon Circle Club but will add a new outside location which will be located in the front lawn of the current Blue Ribbon.  The area will have a tent and be equipped with table tops for those that would prefer to be in the outside air but also to increase the spacing of the club.  On the most attended nights, the outside location will offer bar service and some food service.  The food selection will be similar to past years in the Blue Ribbon Circle but may be limited in the selection as the food caterer will haver servers in place instead of patrons serving themselves.  The Celebration will follow state guidelines on occupancy and may limit those in the area at any specific time.  We will continue to update our pass holders as we get closer to time.

Corporate Sponsor Party
Unfortunately, the Celebration will not have a corporate sponsor party in 2020.  The board just didn’t feel comfortable with the current executive orders in place of having that many people in one confined location.  Due to this cancellation this year, the board did upgrade the Blue Ribbon Circle decorations, add the outdoor area and on the first Saturday night will have a special meal during the normal time of the sponsor party for those sponsors that would like to eat prior to the show.

After Show Entertainment
In the past several years the Celebration has hosted after-show entertainment in the Blue Ribbon Circle Club.  Those band parties have been very popular but due to the current circumstances the Celebration will not host those parties after the show this year.  In addition, in previous years barns have hired bands and entertainment to play at their locations on the show grounds.  Unfortunately, in 2020 this will not be allowed due to the large crowds that gather at those barn parties.  Individual barns can still have gatherings, food and normal customer entertainment but just won’t be allowed to bring in outside entertainment.

Stabling
The Celebration will require all championship entries to stable on the show grounds for 48 hours prior to their championship performance.  The entry deadline for championship classes will once again be 12:00PM two days prior to your championship evening performance (for example Thursday evening championship entries will be required to be on the show grounds by showtime Tuesday evening).