2020 Blue Ridge Rock Festival POSTPONED

In a statement posted earlier this evening,

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to watch last night's Facebook Live and share your feedback. Below is our official statement regarding the Festival's postponement. Within it, you will find further details on how refunds will be administered. As I shared last night, I did not intend to reveal this information right after a decision have been officially reached with our municipality. It was my desire to work through the necessary procedures in advance of making this announcement in public, in an effort to facilitate the most organized postponement process for everyone involved. Due to the impending press leak, I went live last night and activated a series of domino effects that has greatly accelerated our timeline. Despite the circumstances, I cannot stress enough that all of you will be taken care during this process. While it is going to take a couple more days than I would like, we are going to move very expediently here and give every effort to serve you as much as possible. I know after reading all of this and watching last night's video, some of you will still have questions. I will answer them. I just conducted an interview with ABC News here locally. While much of it naturally had to be trimmed for television, they have been gracious enough to provide us with the complete video file that we will be posting tomorrow. It elaborates further on the measures that were taken, why we made the call when we did, and the specific pieces that left us with zero choice. No one is disheartened more about this decision than myself. For going on four years now, it has been my desire to create a Rock Festival that is different. An experience curated from start to finish by the most passionate community I have encountered in all of music.

This year's lineup was undoubtedly our strongest yet. As a promoter, few things bring me more joy than to see the reaction of the heartbeat of this Festival, you, react to artist announcements. If the pandemic had not hit, the entirety of our lineup would have been long released and promotion would be in full swing. I find peace though in knowing that we will return. The road does not end here. We as a Festival Family will only grow stronger through this pain. Thank you to incredible compilation of artists, agents, managers, and industry partners who believe in me and this Festival. You have been nothing short of amazing throughout this process. Though the concentration is largely on artists, venues, and festivals right now; many agents and managers are facing an unprecedented number of hardships. I would be amiss if I did not pause to thank you for your incredible support and constant efforts to make this year a reality. I look forward to working alongside you as we build an even stronger 2021 together. Words cannot accurately describe our level of gratitude to those who continue to believe in us and our vision. We see you, we thank you. While rolling your tickets over to next year does make a massive impact to us, please do not hesitate to request a refund. Our whole foundation behind Blue Ridge is you. We are wrestling through this economic climate with you. We care and are here to assist however possible. No matter if you are rolling over or being refunded, thank you for giving us a chance this year. If there is anything that you take away from this year's Festival, I hope it is the heart that is behind it. - Jon Slye

Blue Ridge Rock Festival OFFICIAL STATEMENT:

Due to global pandemic, COVID-19, Blue Ridge Rock Festival is deeply saddened to announce its postponement from September 18th - 20th 2020 to September 9th - 12th 2021. There are many factors that went into making this decision. Since last October, we have worked around the clock to produce our strongest Festival yet. When COVID-19 initially began its impact on the United States, we remained optimistic like many, that our event was far enough away that the negative effects would have begun to substantially subside. We proceeded to relentlessly hurdle the many obstacles that were presented. Ultimately, from a state and local level, we were given a grim and strong recommendation that Blue Ridge Rock Festival would not be able to take place this year, despite the measures we had implemented. After speaking with numerous local health officials, we were informed that bringing 30,000 people from all 50 states together for a 3-4 day period was a massive liability that could not be consciously supported. One of the specific concerns voiced is the specific configuration of our event as a rock festival. We do not offer any reserved seats. Furthermore, staple components of a rock festival, such as crowd surfing and moshing, are activities that simply cannot be social distanced, and would be hard to prevent. At the request of fans, Blue Ridge Rock Festival will move to a new weekend in 2021 to avoid other Festival conflicts. The 2021 event will also feature not three, but four days of rock, all held at the same venue we were scheduled in this year, Appomattox Community Park. All ticket funds and fees from the 2020 Festival have been held in escrow by our valued ticketing partner, Etix. Fans have the option to receive a 100% refund, including service and delivery fees. Etix will be in touch in the next few days via the EMAIL ADDRESS you purchased with, to walk you through the steps to receive complete reimbursement. Should fans wish to roll over their tickets to 2021, you are more than welcome to do so. Your support will only allow us to book an even stronger lineup and experience for you in 2021. Furthermore, in applying your tickets to next year, you guarantee the lowest ticket cost on our largest lineup to date, AND receive free access to the added fourth day of the Festival. If you purchased a single day ticket, you can choose to redeem that at any of the four Festival days in 2021. If you secured a Hotel + Ticket Package, we have just re-secured all rooms for next year and can reconfirm you. As a friendly FYI, Hotel + Ticket Packages were actually 91% sold out this year at the time of postponement. If you intend to reserve a Hotel Room or Hotel + Ticket Package next year, we do recommend doing so well in advance. If you would like to utilize any of your purchases onto 2021, Etix will explain the procedures to adhere to when they send everyone an email in the coming days. Though this is certainly a heartbreaking setback, we remain completely committed to our "Fan Driven Rock Experience" mission statement. We will spend the next fifteen months doing everything in our power to deliver you the absolute best value and interactive experience in rock that we can.