They held on as long as they could, but there will be no Hillside Festival this summer.
The 37th annual festival, set for July 24, 25 and 26 at Guelph Lake Conservation Area, was officially called off Thursday morning.
Festival executive director Marie Zimmerman said officially it's being called a rescheduling until 2021. Refunds will be available for those who have already purchased passes, with details on the Hillside website, but they are hoping people will roll over those purchases until 2021.
"We've known for a long time that the writing was on the wall," said Zimmerman, adding that they were waiting to ensure that our partners were ready at the GRCA and we got clear word from Public Health.
"We're like a big ocean freighter. You can't just stop on a dime. It takes a long time and it takes a coordinated effort from everybody that's on board.
"We're heartsore, but we're also a bit numb," Zimmerman said.
The bottom line is people's health, she said, and it's a decision that feels bad, but is "absolutely right."
"Large public gatherings are super-spreader events ... it's very sobering for us, as event planners, that what we prize, which is getting so joyously close to other people, dancing, holding hands and eating together are exactly what is going to undo us right now."
April is usually the time the festival announces the lineup for the event.
Zimmerman said all the artists had been booked for this year, the vendors arranged and volunteer coordinators confirmed.
The festival hopes those same artists and vendors can just switch plans to next year, but obviously not everyone will be able to.
Zimmerman said they had explored moving the festival to later in the summer or fall, but artists have commitments, Guelph Lake Conservation Area is all booked up and there are other festivals that they didn't want to poach on their date.
"Initially that's what we were thinking, 'let's go later in the year,' but there were a lot of factors mitigating that."
The festival, she said, isn't really "a moveable feast."
Cancelling this year's event will have a big financial impact on Hillside.
"We will obviously have a deficit because our model for running the festival is mostly based on ticket revenue."
Layoffs in the organization and what this means for Hillside Inside next winter will be part of the ripple effect.
