The city of Georgetown and the Red Poppy Festival Planning Committee announced March 16 the 2020 Red Poppy Festival has been rescheduled to Oct. 23-25.

“We know this is an important event to this community and have made rescheduling it to a safer time a priority,” Mayor Dale Ross said in a news release. “We are looking forward to seeing everyone come out in October for our first-ever POPPtober Fest.”

The city also closed the Georgetown Public Library, most parks and recreation facilities, and the visitor’s center at 6 p.m. March 16 until further notice in an attempt to limit mass gatherings, the release said, adding private gatherings at parks and recreation facilities that will have fewer than 50 people will not be required to cancel this time.

The Georgetown City Council also has scheduled a special meeting March 19 at 4 p.m. to extend the local disaster declaration until the first April regular council meeting on April 14.

“We are doing everything we can now to prepare for the reality of confirmed cases in Georgetown and are following county, state, and national guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by minimizing large, social gatherings,” Ross said in the release. “The more we can limit interactions now, before Georgetown has a confirmed case, the less the virus will spread in our community. We appreciate your understanding, patience, and cooperation with these requirements.”



The changes are in response to new requirements issued by Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell that limit the number of people who can convene at a given time to 50 people or fewer through May 11, the release said, and officials will continue to monitor the situation daily to determine whether to extend or reduce this timeframe.

Georgetown Public Library

The library will be closed to the public starting 6 p.m. March 16 through May 11. People should hold onto their library materials until it reopens. The library does not charge overdue fines.

All WOW!mobile stops and outreach events are canceled through April 3, and Sun City stops are canceled through April 19.


Parks and recreation department

The recreation and tennis centers will be closed through May 11. All athletic field rentals and practices also are canceled. Last week’s cancelation of all parks and recreation events, programs, and activities has been extended through May 11.

Private events expecting more than 50 people scheduled through May 11 at the Community Center, Parks Administration Community Room, Garey House, or other park pavilions are canceled. Full refunds and free rescheduling are available. For questions specific to parks and recreation facilities, people can email [email protected].

Garey Park will remain open at its regular hours.


City Council, boards and commissions meetings

At this time, all regularly scheduled City Council meetings will go on as planned, though staff is working through options to hold these meetings remotely.

The public is encouraged to send written public comment by email to [email protected] and to watch the livestream of the meeting at gtv.georgetown.org or on the Government channel 10. Written citizen comment will be accepted up to 2:15 p.m. Tuesdays for the Workshop meetings and up to 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays for the regular council meetings.

The city will not be holding board and commission meetings until further notice, unless they have a state statutory requirement. The boards that will continue to meet if needed are:

  • Planning and Zoning Commission
  • Zoning Board of Adjustment
  • Historic and Architectural Review Committee
  • Building Standards Commission
  • Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corp.
  • Georgetown Economic Enhancement Corp.
These meetings will not be streamed on the government channel, but the city will continue to post minutes of the meetings. The public is encouraged to send written public comment by email to [email protected]. Time-sensitive items that would have been considered by other boards will go straight to council for a decision.

Original post - March 15, 9:45 a.m.



The city of Georgetown and the Red Poppy Festival planning committee are evaluating rescheduling the 2020 Red Poppy Festival from April 24-26 to October 23-25.

"We currently are reaching out to vendors, musicians, and others involved in this event to determine whether the new dates would work for them," the city's coronavirus information page said. "We hope to announce a final decision within the next week."

The Red Poppy Festival brought in 75,000 attendees in 2019, 56% of which were from out of town, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported.

The Festival had a $2.56 million economic impact on the city last year.