The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will not be taking place this year. On Tuesday, the music festival announced on Twitter that the event would not be able to go forth as planned due to weather. Bonnaroo, which regularly attracts around 80,000 music fans, was originally set to take place from Thursday, Sept. 2 to Sunday, Sept. 5 in Manchester, Tennessee.
In a series of tweets, Bonnaroo organizers explained why they had decided to cancel the event. They began by writing that the upcoming weather in the Manchester area “looks outstanding” and that the Centeroo area, where the event’s music and attractions take place, is “waterlogged in many areas.” Furthermore, the area’s campgrounds were too flooded to host the tens of thousands of campers safely. As a result of the conditions, the area is considered to be too unsafe to hold the event as planned. They stressed that they have been attempting to do everything possible in order to try to still have the festival take place. But, unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans.
we are unable to drive in or park vehicles safely.
We have done everything in our power to try to keep the show moving forward, but Mother Nature has dealt us a tremendous amount of rain over the past 24 hours, and we have run out of options to try to make the event happen…
— Bonnaroo (@Bonnaroo) August 31, 2021
All tickets purchased through Front Gate Tickets will be refunded in as little as 30 days to the original method of payment.
— Bonnaroo (@Bonnaroo) August 31, 2021
The festival shared that despite trying their best, they have “run out of options” for how to produce this year’s event safely. Even though it won’t be taking place this year, they encouraged their fans to “safely gather with your Bonnaroo community and continue to radiate positivity during this disappointing time.” Bonnaroo also noted that anyone who purchased tickets for the event will receive a full refund within 30 days.
Fans were anticipating this year’s festival as the event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the festival moved its usual June dates to September in the hopes that the pandemic would be under control by then. But, when the situation only grew more serious across the country, they decided to postpone the event until September 2021, per Rolling Stone. Alas, the festival will not be able to go on as planned for this rescheduled date. Bonnaroo noted in their message about the cancellation that they will see fans in June of 2022.
While Bonnaroo has not held an in-person festival for some time, they did go the virtual route in 2020. Rolling Stone also reported that Bonnaroo held a virtual festival in September 2020. Those who purchased tickets for the festival were able to watch the virtual events for free. Bonnaroo’s virtual festival reportedly featured “some of our favorite moments from past and present, along with some special surprises.”