GREENFIELD — Organizers of the Green River Festival announced Thursday afternoon their plans to hold his year’s music festival from Aug. 27 to Aug. 29.
“We are working on a fantastic lineup and will be sure that all protocols for safety are followed,” a newsletter announcing the new dates reads.
Signature Sounds Presents, the Northampton company that holds the festival, announced last April its plans to postpone the 2020 festival, typically hosted the second weekend of July, when the COVID-19 pandemic started. The festival, held at Greenfield Community College, is in its 34th year.
According to the newsletter, tickets sold in advance of the planned 2020 Green River Festival will be honored.
Festival Director Jim Olsen said he and other organizers feel there is a better chance of holding the festival if it is scheduled for a bit later in the summer than usual.
“It’s a fairly recent decision. We’re still working on all the other details of it,” he said in regards to the musical entertainment, food vendors and other activities synonymous with the event.
Asked if he is optimistic this decision won’t have to be reversed, Olsen said no one knows “what’s going to come down the line, in terms of COVID.” He said he trusts when Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, says most of the country’s eligible population will be vaccinated by the end of summer.
Olsen said he hopes widespread vaccination will result in Gov. Charlie Baker moving the state into the fourth phase of reopening, which would allow large performance venues to open.
“There’s no guarantee and we understand that it’s a fluid situation,” Olsen said. “We’re prepared, if we do have to cancel, to refund our ticket-holders and wait till 2022. We really want to bring them their summer music festival.”
More information will be available at greenriverfestival.com.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.