MEDICINE HAT, AB -A local summer favourite in our city has been cancelled this year due to COVID-19.
The 24th annual Medicine Hat JazzFest will not be taking place at the end of June.
It was scheduled for June 21-28, 2020.
Executive/Artistic Director Lyle Rebbeck says they’ve been staying current with this unfolding situation, adding its been a decision that’s out of their hands.
And the decision was made due to a number of legal restrictions during this time.
He says it’s a shame, but their priority is to keep everyone safe.
“With the non-essential travel ban for anyone outside the country, that eliminated about half of the groups that we had booked for this year’s festival. The restrictions on gathering and venues. Obviously, priorities shift. It’s hard to imagine a year going by without JazzFest and so many of the other touchstones in our community.”
Rebbeck says the committee has been in contact with the artists and they are all interested in coming back for JazzFest 2021.
“We all know how important the arts and music are in building the community so we’ll be there on the other side of this to help celebrate and come back together.”
He says the golden question is what the 2021 festival will be called.
“We’re a bit divided as a committee. We’ve talked about calling it the leap year festival (he laughed), I don’t know. Because we’ve been gearing for the 25th in 2021 for quite some time but it will obviously be the 24th festival in our 25th year. So we’ll come up with the branding in how we do that going forward.”
Rebbeck adds it will be a celebration no matter what, which is the most important thing.
“It’s trying times for everyone and the arts are one segment of our society that has come to a grinding halt.”
