WALLOWA LAKE — Oregon’s Alpenfest, the West’s four-day festival of Alpine culture and cuisine, is canceling its 2020 festival and making preparations to bring the event back in 2021.

Event organizers in a press release reported the move is in adherence to Gov. Kate Brown’s latest regulations to keep Oregonians safe during the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced many major events in the state to be canceled or rescheduled.

“We already are working to reschedule Mollie B and Squeezebox,” said Chuck Anderson, Alpenfest’s Alpenmeister.

Alpenfest booked the band, the International Polka Association’s Band of the Year for 2019, after 5 years of schedule conflicts. Squeezebox usually plays more than 100 dates a year but has canceled or rescheduled dozens of them because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“We made our decision as soon as Gov. Brown announced that no concerts or festivals would take place through September,” Anderson said. “We, of course, want our attendees to stay healthy, and we are honoring the governor’s actions.”

This would have been the 43rd edition of the festival. Businesses at the south end of Wallowa Lake started the event in 1975 and ran it through 2008. Joseph and lake businesses revived it in its current format in 2012.