The 32nd Annual Bayfront Blues Festival, a big-draw, three-day mid-August concert at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth, is canceled because of travel and gathering difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the event's website, it will be back Aug. 13-15, 2021.
"We thought long and hard about this," organizers posted online. "It was a painstaking decision to make, but clearly the right thing to do. The responsible thing to do."
Tommy Castro, Dee Miller Band, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Reverend Raven & The Chain Smoking Altar Boys were among the acts announced for this year's festival. Typically, the event draws thousands of blues fans to the park to catch acts on the main stage and in the acoustic tent.
Checks will be mailed June 15 for ticket holders who requested refunds before May 23. According to the festival's website, organizers are suspending cash refund requests until June 1, 2021, to July 31 2021, at which point ticket holders can decide if they want to use the tickets, exchange them for the 2022 event or get a cash refund.
Festival-goers can expect a price increase beginning with next year's event.
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"Due to the damage already done, there will be a price increase on tickets and VIP packages for the postponed festival and future festivals going forward," a statement from the festival reads. "We estimate that the cost of tickets will go up by at least 50% in order to sustain a quality event and move the Bayfront Blues Festival into the future."
For more details, go to bayfrontblues.com .
This story was updated at 6:07 p.m. May 26 with additional information from Bayfront Blues Festival. It was originally posted at 12:30 p.m. May 26.
