Martha’s Vineyard’s Beach Road Weekend is the latest summer music festival to cancel its 2020 edition over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday (April 7), the Tisbury Board of Selectmen voted to cancel the July festival, with organizers now looking ahead to a return in 2021.
The festival was scheduled to bring artists like Beck, Norah Jones, Lake Street Dive, The Head and The Heart, and Father John Misty to Veterans Memorial Park in the town of Tisdale over the course of three days, July 24 to 26.
But the decision to cancel was made by the Tisbury Board of Selectmen after consulting with local first responders and medical professionals. The festival’s producers, Innovation Arts & Entertainment, agreed with the call, which allows the area’s police, fire, and EMS departments to focus on citizen care during the ongoing pandemic.
“Beach Road Weekend 2020 had a critically acclaimed lineup, and we were excited to build on the great fan experience we developed last summer, so we are obviously disappointed not to be able to finish what we started,” says Innovation Arts & Entertainment CEO Adam Epstein. “But, we need to make sure that resources to deal with this pandemic are available for the people of Martha’s Vineyard, and also to ensure the personal safety of everyone who would have attended, the artists scheduled to perform, and our incredible festival staff.”
Refunds will be available for ticket holders in the near future, IAE has confirmed. The festival will return to Martha’s Vineyard in 2021 “with another talented lineup,” suggesting that an entirely new array of performers will be curated for next year.