Sisters Folk Festival called off until Sept. 2021

Tickets will be rolled over to next year, unless refund sought by June 30

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The staff and board of directors of Sisters Folk Festival announced Wednesday they have "made the difficult decision to postpone the 24th annual Sisters Folk Festival," originally scheduled for Sept. 11-13, to Sept. 10-12 of next year.

On May 7, the governor’s office announced that concerts, major sporting events and large gatherings would not be allowed to occur without significant modifications, at least through the end of September.

Since then, SFF said its "staff has explored what those modifications might look like for the Sisters Folk Festival, including requiring face coverings, lowering overall venue capacities to allow for social distancing, eliminating indoor venues and increased sanitation measures."

"Even with those necessary modifications in place, there is no guarantee that statewide restrictions won’t be re-imposed if there is a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in Oregon over the next weeks and months," the festival announcement said.

“Lots of our people travel here from outside of the area, including the performing artists. They need to know, with certainty, what is happening with the festival this fall. Unfortunately, certainty is something that no one can provide right now,” said SFF Executive Director Crista Munro.

“We know that this news is very disappointing, and we had hoped to not have to deliver it, but the well-being of our entire community is our primary concern," Munro said.

"It’s clear that no matter how much we want to have a festival this September, the scientific and medical fields don’t yet understand enough about how this disease is spread for us to safely bring a lot of people together with confidence," Munro said.

"We don’t even know for sure what phase of opening our state will be in four months from now; it all depends on how these first few weeks of re-opening go," she said. "I think people will understand that we held off on making this call for as long as we could, hoping for a breakthrough that would allow us to proceed with the festival.”

Creative director Brad Tisdel added, “Each year, we carefully curate a festival lineup that includes musical and cultural diversity. With 40+ musical acts coming from all over the country and world, it’s clear we can’t make the 2020 festival happen as planned.

"I’m currently working with agents and artists to bring THIS lineup to next year’s festival, with all the collaboration and musical alchemy coming together to create an extraordinary experience. We look forward to celebrating it with you in 2021 and thank you for your support and belief in Sisters Folk Festival,” Tisdel said.

Tickets to this year’s festival will be automatically rolled over to the 2021 event, unless the purchaser elects to get a festival loyalty package; to donate their ticket purchase price to Sisters Folk Festival, a nonprofit organization; or requests a refund by June 30.

Sisters Folk Festival said it is still planning to have some type of event over the Sept. 11-13 weekend, most likely a livestreamed program with a small live audience if state guidelines allow it.

The organization is also looking into ways to deliver live music programming on a smaller scale to residents of Central Oregon later this summer. Details will be forthcoming as plans take shape.