COVID-19 affecting schedules
Cape Breton festivals adjusting to new reality
SYDNEY — Last year at this time, most probably expected life would have returned to normal by now and that COVID restrictions would be nothing more than an unpleasant memory.
But as May meanders along, organizers of the area's major summer events are realizing that if anything, the summer of 2021 could be even more problematic than last summer and some have already made adjustments to their schedules.
For KitchenFest! co-ordinator Connall MacKinnon, it's almost like a repeat of last year when the popular late June/early July event had to be moved to late August because of COVID.
“We are unfortunately in the same situation as last year with gathering and travel restrictions due to COVID19,” he said. “We made the decision to push KitchenFest! 2020 to late August last year and were still able to put on a successful, well attended and safe festival at multiple venues around the island.”
This year's festival had been planned for June 25 to July 4 and MacKinnon expects the Celtic music festival to return to that approximate time slot in future years but for 2021, it will take place at the end of summer.
“KitchenFest! is now scheduled for Aug. 27-Sept. 4 and we are optimistic that we'll be able to put on the festival at that time.”
KitchenFest 2021 was set to have 140 artists performing at around 30 venues around the island but MacKinnon is optimistic the late summer event will allow more people to attend and enjoy the island's Celtic music and culture.
“Event planning is certainly a struggle currently but we are optimistic that our province will be in a better position by late summer,” said MacKinnon. “I feel that both artists and venues are understanding of the rescheduling.”
Cape Breton Jazz Festival organizer Carl Getto expects his annual event to occur Aug. 26-28, with some major changes.
“We did the jazz festival last year on a reduced scale and we're looking to do the same this year,” said Getto. “Three days and primarily it will be local — the emphasis will be on local entertainment.”
In previous years, the festival ran for about a week and featured performers from across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Last year Getto decided to hold a smaller version with mainly local artists usually performing outdoors and it did well. Even so, Getto is playing it safe by delaying a final program and ticket sales until later in the summer.
“Our schedule is quite tentative at this time,” he said. “Open air concerts seem to work well and we had a lot of positive comments on how we handled the situation last year in regards to them — we ran it with social distancing and masks and constant reminders from the stage. We needed to be careful and that went very well. So we're looking at replicating that this year and having a couple of open air shows and several indoor shows as well. Everything is up in the air.
“This is a small festival — we can hold off on making the final decision on whether to go ahead or not. We can adjust.”
However Celtic Colours International Festival isn't so small and it usually brings in performers from around the world. The multi-faceted event takes place in October around Thanksgiving and because of COVID, last year's festival was held virtually.
Organizers are planning to release more details about how they will proceed with this year's event sometime next week.
“Celtic Colours International Festival organizers are finalizing details on their plans for 2021 and will be making an announcement next week,” says festival executive director Mike MacSween.