SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A festival of culture slated for next week in Springfield, Ohio was canceled due to recent threats and safety concerns, city leaders announced Monday.
The city said it is canceling CultureFest, an event that celebrates diversity, arts and local culture to protect the safety of the community.
“The decision was made with the utmost consideration for the safety and well-being of our community and event participants,” a Facebook post from the city read.
The event was scheduled for Sept. 27-28.
“We deeply regret having to cancel CultureFest, as we know it is a beloved event for our community,” said City Manager Bryan Heck. “However, the safety of our residents and visitors must come first.”
The post said the city took a course of action to prevent any potential risks to attendees, staff, vendors and volunteers.
Last week, the city received several bomb threats to City Hall, schools, hospitals, a driver’s exam station and an Ohio License Bureau.
All of the locations were cleared by local law enforcement and the threats were all deemed not credible.
The city has been at the center of a nationwide immigration debate after claims of Haitian migrants eating neighborhood pets surfaced.
The claims were amplified by former President Donald Trump during last week’s debate. It exacerbated some residents’ fears about growing divisiveness in the predominantly white, blue-collar city.
The falsehoods about Springfield's Haitian immigrants were spread online by Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance, on the eve of Tuesday's debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vance was asked in an interview whether he knew the claims were false.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do," Vance said, quickly clarifying that he "created the focus that allowed the media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by policies.”
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Officials in Springfield have tried to tamp down the misinformation by saying there have been no credible or detailed reports of any pets being abducted or eaten.
State leaders are trying to help address some of the real challenges facing the city. Gov. Mike DeWine said that he would add more law enforcement and health care resources to an aid package the state has already provided to Springfield.
“There’s a lot of garbage on the internet and, you know, this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true," DeWine said. "What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in."
Roughly 15,000 immigrants have arrived in the past few years in the city of about 60,000.