Three staple summertime festivals in downtown London will not go ahead this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The 26th annual TD Sunfest, 47th annual Home County Music and Art Festival, and Start.ca Rock the Park have been cancelled.
“This was a very hard call to make, but it is clearly the wisest and most responsible choice,” Home County Chair Paul Mills said in a statement. “The path that the COVID-19 pandemic will take over the next few months is uncertain, and rather than take any chances, the most prudent course of action was to make this difficult but necessary decision.”
Home County and Sunfest organizers came to the decision to cancel the highly anticipated outdoor gatherings after consulting with government and health officials. Both festivals were slated to be held in Victoria Park in July.
“In these extraordinary and worrying times, nothing matters more than our commitment to protect the health, safety and well-being of the Sunfest family and the wider community in which we live,” said Alfredo Caxaj, executive and artistic director of TD Sunfest.
It was also noted that several of the performers booked for the pair of events had been unable to secure travel visas as the Canadian border remains closed to non-essential travel.
Sunfest and Home County draw hundreds of people into the park over two different weekends for live music, a variety of food, and one-of-a-kind craft vendors. Last year's Sunfest even brought Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to London. Trudeau opened the four-day, multi-cultural festival on the Thursday night. Former Barenaked Ladies’ frontman Steven Page and children's entertainment icon Fred Penner were among the more than 50 acts to perform at Home County last July.
Organizers of Start.ca Rock the Park, which was to be held in Harris Park July 15 - 18, also felt it was no longer safe to move forward with the festival this year.
"These are without a doubt crazy and unprecedented times but as a city and community, we will all get through this," a message on the festival's website reads. "We have taken everything into consideration in order to make out a plan of action going forward. We have worked very closely with our artists and are thrilled to announce only a few changes in our line up for 2021."
Blink 182, Simple Plan, TLC, Nelly, Arrested Development, Jenny from Ace of Base, and Aqua have already signed on to perform at next year's Rock the Park.
All three festivals will return in July 2021.
