Unable to overcome a “hurdle of uncertainty,” summer festivals such as this one in the Upper Peninsula are calling it quits for 2020, while others hope they’ll be able to continue as scheduled.
Skipping 2020: The late August Upper Peninsula festival faced too many unknowns due to COVID-19. (Photo/Local Spins)
UPDATE: Organizers of Kalamazoo Ribfest 2020, which has been scheduled for July 30-Aug. 1 at Arcadia Creek Festival Place, have announced that the event has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerts. Ribfest will return for summer 2021.
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For Cheryl Sundberg and organizers of the Upper Peninsula’s Porcupine Mountains Music Festival, it came down to the “hurdle of uncertainty” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s why they decided to cancel the Aug. 28-30 festival near Ontonagon – a Michigan gathering that would have been the 16th annual celebration of music within the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
“The average age of our attendees and volunteers is in what would be considered the mature group,” reasoned Sundberg, festival director.
Cheryl Sundberg (Photo/Local Spins)
“There was great concern as to what procedures could be taken to make people feel safe enough to volunteer or attend, would we have the manpower to implement those measures, and even if we did, would people decide to stay home?”
That cancellation of a late-August music festival could raise red flags for other big Michigan celebrations in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Although several June festivals have been canceled or postponed, as well as July’s Blissfest near Harbor Springs, the Porcupine Mountains event is the first big August festival opting to bypass 2020.
The “uncertainty” of what the future might hold in regard to the pandemic and festivalgoer safety has led to almost daily announcements of cancellations, including the Frederic Music Festival planned for June 26-27 in Frederic’s Eagles Park. Other cancellations include Founders Fest in Grand Rapids, the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival and Calumet’s The Dam Jam, which all had been scheduled for June.
And Rockford Brewing announced Tuesday that it won’t host a beer tent for the June 11-14 Start of Summer Celebration in Rockford.
OUTDOOR SUMMER CONCERTS IN ROCKFORD, LOWELL DELAYED UNTIL JULY
On the flip side, events such as July’s Beaver Island Music Festival on Beaver Island and August’s Farmfest near Johanessburg and Willowsong Music Festival in Sidney are still planning to move forward at this time.
Farmfest, slated to take place east of Gaylord, is scheduled for Aug. 6-10. “We are waiting to see how the state restrictions will be in August,” said festival director Stacy Jo Schiller.
If the full festival isn’t possible due to COVID-19 regulations, the event will likely switch over to a “much smaller” gathering focused on local food production. “Farmfest is a working organic vegetable farm. The festival is a celebration of that,” Schiller said, noting that farming is considered an essential service.
If it becomes a restricted event, it would have “farming as the main focus and the music a reward for our work. … Our local health department will be involved to make sure protocol is (followed) with the safe standards.” She stressed this is all “still in the development stages.”
Some communities hosting free weeknight concerts across the region, meanwhile, are moving to postpone the start of their series until July, including the Rogue River Blues Series in Rockford and Lowell Showboat Sizzlin’ Summer Concerts in Lowell.
Not Till July: Rockford’s Rogue River Blues Series. (Photo/Local Spins)
Sundberg said concerns about possible limitations on the size of the Porcupine Mountains festival – which attracts about 1,750 people a year – as well as uncertainty about when the state park might reopen played into the decision about the nonprofit music festival.
She said organizers are “making every effort” to retain all of the performers lined up for 2020 for the rescheduled festival. Those who purchased tickets for this year’s festival will receive replacement tickets for 2021.
Anyone with questions about the festival or their ticket purchases should email the festival at tickets@porkiesfestival.org or call 906-231-1589 by June 30.
Revisit Local Spins’ coverage of the 2019 Porcupine Mountains Music Festival: U.P.’s Porcupine Mountains Music Festival a ‘goosebumps’ experience unlike anything else.
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