Organizers announced Friday that annual Farm To Table dinner originally set for July 21 has been cancelled.

Lauren Frazer, a volunteer organizer for the dinner, which is in its third year, said the decision to cancel this year’s dinner was made to allow the event’s founding organizer, Syndy Deese, to spend time with her family after a tragic accident.

Deeses’ daughter, son-in-law and grandson were involved in a vehicle accident earlier this month. Her son-in-law died in the crash and her daughter sustained serious injuries.

“Syndy is the backbone of the dinner,” Frazer said Friday. “After this tragedy occurred, we just felt like we couldn’t really do it with our her and we didn’t want to.

“This is Syndy’s baby and it didn’t seem right to do it without her.”

Frazer said because planning had already begun on Deese’s part, organizer’s felt it was best to cancel this year’s event.

“Syndy is having to step away from the fundraiser this year due to a death in her family in Colorado,” Frazer posted to the event’s Facebook page Friday afternoon. “The rest of the team that has helped Syndy these past couple of years did not feel they could put on the quality of an event without her here forging the way. She has built this beautiful event and we would not want to fall short of anything less than spectacular.”

Frazer said the team wanted to give Syndy time to focus on her family’s needs.

“We just didn’t want to be messaging Syndy with questions and needs while she was attending to her family’s needs,” Frazer said. “We felt that she needed to be able to focus solely on that.”

The event began in 2016 as a farm to table-style dinner held on Depot Street. Ticket sales and other proceeds all benefitted the Winchester-Clark County Farmers’ Market.

“The market is working on a permanent structure,” Frazer said. “The overall goal of the dinner is raising money to help that cause.

“It’s been a great fundraiser each year, and we hate to cancel. But we will be back next year, bigger and better.”