As of today, both Coachella and Stagecoach have been simultaneously cancelled for the 2021 year with a single signature issued by Riverside County Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser. Up until recently, the entire state of California has been under strict lockdown restrictions which have finally lifted to allow the reopening of outdoor dining restaurants as of this week. Despite the hopefuls that have been holding out for festival season this year, the decision to postpone these festivals does not come as a total surprise considering the state of both California and the world.
Both world-renowned festivals were set to take place in April over the course of three weeks in 2020 and were each postponed to October 2020. Even then, the postponed dates seemed out of reach based on the surge of coronavirus cases throughout the state. At the time, new dates were proposed for the 2021 year over three weekends with Coachella set for two weekends from April 9-11 and April 16-18, 2021 and Stagecoach the following weekend April 23-25, 2021. At this time, no new dates have been announced.
Despite the common knowledge that the world is struggling to cope with coronavirus, the news still comes as a hard pill to swallow for those hoping that festival season would prevail this year. According to Dr. Cameron Kaiser, “The first thing to keep in mind is that under the state framework this event couldn’t happen anyway. We’re coming off the worst COVID-19 surge yet during the pandemic.” Riverside County, where the iconic Empire Polo Club venue for both events is located, remains in purple tier status that prevents large gatherings. The same goes for most of the state of California. For now, we can only hope for the best with future festivals as we await the release of more vaccines and hopeful curbing of the coronavirus over the next few months.
