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The 2021 Carrboro Music Festival, set for September 25-26, has been canceled, officials announced Monday (September 13). The festival is scheduled to return October 2, 2022.
The Town of Carrboro made the decision to cancel this year's festival after a rise in COVID cases and the Delta variant "created a much different situation" than what they expected while planning the festival, WRAL reports.
"At this time, all of our surrounding counties are now classified as either 'Very High Risk' or 'Extremely High Risk' of transmission to unvaccinated community members," the town said in a statement, "so the idea of bringing in potentially a couple of thousand festival attendees is of concern, especially for our community members who are immunocompromised or unable to be vaccinated."
Officials had hoped to hold the traditional festival of 150 to 200 acts at more than 20 venues, but safety for performers and visitors alike caused concerns. Additionally, some of the venues the festival has featured in the past have shut down over the last year.
"While we were hopeful and very excited for the opportunity to return with our traditional event, our number one priority is the safety of our performers, our volunteers, the staff of our participating venues, and the overall community," the statement continued. "We appreciate everyone who is a part of this event, especially all of the great musicians as well as our partnering venues and sponsors."