CEDARBURG, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The popular Strawberry Festival in Cedarburg has been canceled once again. 

The Festivals of Cedarburg Board met Wednesday night, April 21, and came to the difficult conclusion that, based upon current CDC guidelines and COVID trends, it was in the best interest of the public to cancel the event.

The festival was scheduled for June 26-27.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make," said President Jim Pape. "We're all looking forward to a sense of normalcy, to summer days when we can get out of our homes and gather together again. With vaccines becoming more and more prevalent, Strawberry Festival seemed like it might be the perfect opportunity for that - a small-town early summer outdoor festival. But we need to make sure we're doing it safely, and current statistics and restrictions just make it too difficult to predict what conditions will be like in June."

According to a news release, after going on hiatus in March of 2020, the festival's staff optimistically reconvened in January to start planning Cedarburg's summer festival season, which includes Strawberry Festival in June, Wine & Harvest Festival in September and Oktoberfest in October.

"It takes many months to plan a festival," said Executive Director BJ Homayouni. "Our staff has already put countless hours into coordinating and planning what we hoped would be a very celebratory Strawberry Festival. But our plan is to redirect our energy, and the enthusiasm of our vendors and merchants, into September's Wine & Harvest Festival. So we'd rather think of this as a delay - a suspension of the fun - rather than a cancellation. When the conditions are right for our Festivals to resume, and when it's again safe to bring our festival attendees together, we'll be ready to celebrate right along with them."

Cedarburg's Wine & Harvest Festival is scheduled for September 18-19, 2021, and will be followed a few weeks later by Oktoberfest, scheduled for October 2-3.