The 2020 Heart Mountain Pilgrimage, which had been scheduled for July, has been canceled amid concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The current pandemic has disrupted our routines and taken away many of the things we most looked forward to,” wrote Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, in a Tuesday message. “However, I hope it will not take away our sense of community. We may not be able to gather together this summer, but we can still look out for one another.”

Higuchi called it “a difficult decision” that the board reached over the weekend “after much deliberation.”

Each summer since 2011, hundreds of visitors have made a “pilgrimage” to Heart Mountain, where 14,025 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. The journey is taken by former incarcerees, their descendants, friends and the public.

“The Pilgrimage is our favorite time of the year, and we will miss seeing all of you,” Higuchi wrote. “But your safety, and the safety of our members, supporters, and families comes first.”

The pandemic will have lasting effects “well beyond the cancellation of the pilgrimage,” Higuchi said.

“We know it will negatively impact the summer tourist season in Wyoming and revenues at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center,” she said.

Those who had already registered for the pilgrimage will receive full refunds of their registration fees, Higuchi said, though she’s donating the money she would have spent to the foundation.

“If you are in a position to do the same, please consider joining me,” Higuchi said, also encouraging participants to reach out to their friends from past pilgrimages.

“At times like these, simply connecting can mean a lot,” Higuchi said.

Many of the performers and presenters scheduled for 2020 have already committed to returning for next year’s pilgrimage, scheduled for July 22-24, 2021.

In the meantime, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center is currently closed to the public. However, staff members have committed to posting new online content each week for the length of the closure.

(Editor's note: The date for the 2021 pilgrimage has been updated.)