Celebration announces end to Great Mule & Donkey Show

The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration is sad to announce it will not host the Celebration Great Mule and Donkey Show in 2020. Although the show has been a mid-summer staple for 28 years, participation both in and out of the ring has significantly declined in recent years. The show has typically been held the week after the 4th of July.

Specifically, in the last two years revenues have fallen far short of a breakeven point for The Celebration, which makes the cancellation of the event a necessary action of The Celebration. The Celebration Board of Directors reached out to the participating associations to see if they knew of ways to increase sponsorship to help The Celebration with its financial shortfall or if those associations wanted to continue the show and rent the facilities from the Celebration.

Neither of those efforts were successful as the associations noted a reduction in most of their other events which have posed similar challenges. “The Celebration is truly thankful for the great relationships built with those within the respective Mule and Donkey associations throughout the years and we wish everyone involved the very best,” said Celebration CEO Mike Inman.  

As a result of the cancellation of the event, the week of July 6-11, 2020 is open and available for rent by another event.