While COVID-19 has caused the Oregon Country Fair to be hosted virtually this year, many vendors are not bringing their businesses online.
Kundari's Pizza, typically located on the fairground's original 8-shaped loop, will miss its first country fair celebration in 35 years. The pizza booth's owner and namesake, Kundari Iannone, said the fair being cancelled due to the pandemic will change the way her business will operate in the future, but her personal lifestyle is even more affected.
“It's a big hole. 35 years? I can't imagine. It's like I don't know what to do," said Iannone. "It was a big reunion. That's when my new year started. So it was more than just the country fair because it was always an event where I would come and spend time with friends and have parties and get togethers. Besides that, the money would sustain me for the whole year."
Iannone said she doesn't expect the country fair—or Kundari's Pizza—to ever run the same way again. She remains hopeful that the booth's hungry crowds and her workers will be happy to pick up where they left off last year, despite the new rules that are bound to be implemented by country fair organizers.
Copyright KLCC, 2020.