GOOD HOPE — Good Hope’s annual Back to School Bash has a tentative date, but this year’s celebration of the city’s students will look a little different from years past.

The Good Hope City Council discussed the festival during its regular meeting Monday night, and set a tentative date of July 30 for the event, which will be held in the Good Hope Municipal Park beginning at 6:30 p.m. 

Due to the risk of COVID-19, this year’s Back to School Bash won’t feature the games and rides for children to play on, but the city’s families can still come by to pick up a boxed meal of a hamburger or hot dog, and the first 200 students who come through will receive a free t-shirt.

The Back to School Bash will occur at the same time as the Ultimate Fair, which will be across the road from the park on July 28-Aug. 1. The council previously discussed tying the festival in with the fair and purchasing wrist bands for the city’s students to attend the fair for free for one night. 

Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett said the organizers of the fair are still moving forward with it, but the risks of COVID-19 and the possibility of the fair’s cancellation if cases continue to rise led the city to host its own event separate from the fair.

Plans for festivals and other events are changing daily because of the coronavirus’ continued spread, and even plans for things like school and football could change before they are set to restart, so everything that the city hosts should be considered tentative, he said. 

“Everything’s an ‘I don’t know yet,’” he said. “It’s fluid.”

Bartlett said he felt like giving students wristbands to the fair would feel like the city was encouraging them to go to the fair, despite the risks they could be facing, but hosting the separate Back to School Bash at the same time will let families come through to get their food and t-shirt and then go to the fair if they want.

“This way, if they want to go, they can go,” he said.