Ness Creek Music Festival cancels annual event due to COVID-19 concerns

For the first time in its 30 year history, the Ness Creek Music Festival is cancelling its summer festival. It's another event shut down bythe COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual music festival was scheduled to take place July 16-19.

"Things just really weren't looking like it was going to be a safe or socially responsible thing for us to continue planning to host this 4,000-person gathering in the middle of the forest in a couple of months time from now," said festival manager Carlie Letts.

Letts said a festival of this size requires a lot of planning and financial commitments to be made months in advance, with organizers spending a good portion of each year preparing for each festival.

She said the organization had been communicating with other festival organizers throughout western Canada and many of them are contemplating cancelling their events as well.

"We were pretty certain that we would not be able to have the festival," she said.

"We just felt that it was a good idea for us to be transparent and open with our festival patrons and our artists and our sponsors and volunteers. and everybody who worked so hard to put on this festival."

People who have already purchased tickets will receive a refund. A notice on the Ness Creek Music Festival website says ticket purchasers will be contacted by May 1.

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'A lot of uncertainty'

Beside the concern of bringing together thousands of people, Letts said another challenge they were facing was coordinating musicians who travel from all over the world to perform.

"There's a lot of uncertainty with regards to artists who are doing touring, not only with international artists coming in but even just artists traveling around the country."

Plus, all of their first aid volunteers are health care workers.

"For them, even if they could get some time off in the middle of July, they could be incredibly worn out from all the double duty they've been doing trying to keep everyone safe and healthy during this difficult time," Letts said.

This year's event was the 30th anniversary.

"This is the first time that they've ever had to cancel," Letts said.

"They've weathered all sorts of other obstacles and challenges before, from staffing to weather to finances and they've always been able to come through the other end. This COVID-19 thing, seems we've met our match with it."