A handful of music festivals this spring and summer were been postponed to the fall, though as coronavirus remains rampant across the states, many events remain in limbo.
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival – the country’s largest music festival, was originally set to take place throughout April, alongside its sister country music fest Stagecoach. Both events were pushed to the fall when news of the virus first broke in March, but last week, the fests were officially rescheduled to 2021. Chicago’s Lollapalooza, set for August, was also rescheduled.
Now, other fests that have been postponed to the fall are up-in-the-air. This includes Bay Area festivals like BottleRock Napa Valley, slated for October in Napa Valley, as well as Outside Lands in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. BottleRock typically brings in 120,000 attendees, while Outside Lands brings in around 200,000.
Elizabeth Scott, public information officer with Napa County, told SF Chronicle that festivals are a part of the state’s Stage 4 Road to Recovery Plan, and at this time, they’re not in that stage yet. A representative from the California Department of Public Health noted that California is only in Stage 2, and in order to reach Stage 4, counties would need to be able to test a large portion of the population.
Public health officials in the Bay Area are not expecting the state to enter that stage until at least next year. This coincides with health officials’ predictions for the entire country, which note that live events may not fully return until fall 2021.
Other festivals that have been postponed to the fall include Myrtle Beach’s Carolina Country Music Fest, Indiana’s Hometown Country Jam, Memphis’ Beale Street Music Festival, and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo. See our full, updating list of festivals postponed or cancelled amid coronavirus here.
