‘We cannot go forward’: SunFest canceled due to COVID — for second year in a row
Call it déjà vu, 2020 style.
SunFest, one of South Florida’s largest music and art festivals, has fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic for the second year in a row.
Organizers said in a Wednesday statement that the event set for April 30-May 2 in downtown West Palm Beach has been scrapped. Artists just could not commit to performing under the current circumstances as cases continue to spike throughout not only the state, but the entire country.
“We have seen a growing uncertainty from artists about putting their fans into a large music festival setting. Unfortunately, this is the current state of the touring industry,” said SunFest’s executive director Paul Jamieson. “Given this feedback, we have determined that we cannot go forward for 2021. SunFest without enough notable musical artists simply is not SunFest, and we believe we owe our fans more than that.”
No talent had been officially announced for this year’s festivities, but the annual festival has attracted such bold faced names as far afield as Keith Urban, Jason Derulo, Duran Duran and Train to Steve Aoki, Death Cab for Cutie and Don Omar in years past.
If you bought a ticket for the SunFest 2020, which was nixed back in March when the pandemic first hit our shores, you can still use it for SunFest the following year, now set for April 28-May 1, 2022, Jamieson added.
Other major local events that were affected thanks to the ongoing pandemic include the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which moves from February to May; the Ultra Music Festival, which should continue in 2022; and Art Basel Miami Beach, which is supposed to make a stop Dec. 2-5, 2021.
